Baseball Game Preview: Aiken Fighting Green Hornets vs. Batesburg-Leesville Panthers

The Aiken Fighting Green Hornets will take on the Batesburg-Leesville Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Aiken has struggled recently with five defeats in a row, while Batesburg-Leesville will arrive with five straight victories.

Friday just wasn't the day for Aiken's offense. They fell 3-0 to South Aiken on Friday. While getting shut out isn't ideal, the Fighting Green Hornets haven't been shut out since back in March.

Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Batesburg-Leesville faced off against Saluda on Friday. The Panthers were the clear victors by an 8-2 margin over the Tigers. The Panthers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine contests by six runs or more this season.

Braydon Hallman was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He struck out eight batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off six hits. Those eight strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.

In other batting news, Jack Bouknight was incredible, going 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one double. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was John Sawyer, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Batesburg-Leesville was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .438. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.

Batesburg-Leesville pushed their record up to 16-4-1 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.3 runs over those games. As for Aiken, their loss dropped their record down to 8-13.

Everything went Aiken's way against Batesburg-Leesville in their previous meeting back in April of 2024, as Aiken made off with a 10-2 win. Will the Fighting Green Hornets repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.