Baseball Game Preview: Taft Senators vs. Riverview East Academy Hawks

The Taft Senators will head out on the road to face off against the Riverview East Academy Hawks at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Taft has given up an average of 13.4 runs per game this season, but Wednesday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.

Taft couldn't beat Shroder Paideia Academy on Monday even though they stacked nine runs on them in the third inning. The Senators lost 20-12 to the Jaguars. The Senators have struggled against the Jaguars recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive lost meeting.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Riverview East Academy). They blew past Gamble Montessori 16-5 on Monday. Considering the Hawks have won three games by more than nine runs this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.

Ethan Waters made a splash no matter where he played. He struck out 12 batters over five innings while giving up five earned runs off five hits (and only one walk). Riverview East Academy is 2-1 when Waters posts eight or more strikeouts, but 2-3 otherwise. Waters was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three stolen bases and three runs.

In other batting news, Elias Brown was a standout: he got on base in all four of his plate appearances with six stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI. That RBI marked the first that he has brought in this season. Another player making a difference was George Rubinstein, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with four stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI.

Riverview East Academy always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .750. The last time their OBP was this high was was before the start of last season.

Taft's defeat dropped their record down to 3-2. As for Riverview East Academy, the win got them back to even at 4-4.

Taft came out on top in a nail-biter against Riverview East Academy in their previous matchup two weeks ago, sneaking past 5-3. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Senators since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.