The South Aiken Thoroughbreds will head out on the road to take on the Gray Collegiate Academy War Eagles at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. South Aiken has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with seven straight defeats, while Gray Collegiate Academy will come in with six straight wins.
The home team had won the previous five meetings between South Aiken and Barnwell, and Barnwell kept the tradition alive. South Aiken took a 10-7 hit to the loss column at the hands of Barnwell on Wednesday.
Emma Sturgell
| 03/26/25 @ Barnwell | 2 |
| 03/11/25 vs Irmo | 1 |
| 03/07/25 vs Dorman | 1 |
| 02/24/25 @ Pelion | 1 |
South Aiken saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Emma Sturgell, who scored three runs while going 2-for-4. Those two hits gave Sturgell a new career-high. Kiera Nickles also deserves some recognition as she scored her first run of the season.
Meanwhile, Gray Collegiate Academy was able to grind out a solid victory over North Augusta on Tuesday, taking the game 9-6.
Maddox Long made a big impact no matter where she played. She struck out eight batters over 5.1 innings while giving up just two earned (and four unearned) runs off five hits (and only one walk). Long was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in three of her four plate appearances with one home run and two RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Aspen Boulware, who went 2-for-3 with one home run, two runs, and one triple. Na'Veah Matthews was another key player, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 3-for-3.
Gray Collegiate Academy always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .515. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .515 or higher in four consecutive games.
Gray Collegiate Academy pushed their record up to 14-1 with the win, which was their 24th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.2 runs on average over those games. As for South Aiken, their loss dropped their record down to 2-12.
South Aiken might still be hurting after the 13-0 defeat they got from Gray Collegiate Academy when the teams last played on Monday. Can South Aiken avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
