Baseball Game Preview: Boone Braves vs. University Cougars

Boone has gone 9-1 against University recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Braves will head out on the road to face off against the Cougars at 6:00 p.m. Neither Boone nor University posted many runs in their last games, so it might be the pitching crews that decide this one.

While Boone's victory against Colonial wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Braves' pitcher stepped up to hand the Grenadiers a 2-0 shutout on Wednesday. The Braves haven't had any issues with the Grenadiers recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive win against them.

Kurtis Harper

Batters Struck Out

02/18/25 vs Lake Nona	1
03/26/25 vs East River	1
04/02/25 @ Winter Park	3
03/07/25 @ Freedom	7
04/09/25 vs Colonial	14

The result came thanks to Kurtis Harper's shutout, as he gave up just three hits and racked up 14 Ks. Those 14 strikeouts set a new season-high mark for him.

At the plate, Boone saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jetzel Flores, who went 2-for-3 with one RBI. Those two hits gave Flores a new career-high. Matthew Wuthrich also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.

Meanwhile, University was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their fourth straight loss. They lost 11-2 to East River. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last four times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.

Angel Berrios made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs while going 1-for-3.

Boone's victory bumped their record up to 9-10. As for University, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-12.

Boone skirted past University 5-3 when the teams last played back in March. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Braves since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.