Baseball Preview: Southern Aroostook Warriors vs. Hodgdon Hawks
Southern Aroostook is 1-8-1 against Hodgdon since April of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Southern Aroostook Warriors will look to defend their home field against the Hodgdon Hawks at 4:00 p.m. Southern Aroostook is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.4 runs per game this season.
Southern Aroostook is is headed into Monday's matchup looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their sixth straight game on Friday. They lost 11-1 to Central Aroostook. Having soared to a lofty 16 runs in the game before, Southern Aroostook couldn't push the score so high this time.
Ethan Collier made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored a run and stole two bases while going 3-for-3.
Meanwhile, Hodgdon can now show off six landslide victories after their most recent match on Friday. They put the hurt on Madawaska with a sharp 13-3 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Hodgdon.
David Tuttle made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out eight batters over 4.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. Tuttle has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive pitching appearances. Tuttle was also big at the plate, scoring three runs and stealing five bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Michael Fitzpatrick was a standout: he went 2-for-3 with two runs, a triple, and a stolen base. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Hunter Duttweiler, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-4.
Southern Aroostook's loss dropped their record down to 2-9. As for Hodgdon, their victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-2.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Southern Aroostook has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.4 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Hodgdon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.6. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Southern Aroostook couldn't quite finish off Hodgdon in their previous matchup back in April and fell 11-9. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Tuttle, who scored two runs and stole three bases while going 2-for-3. Now that Southern Aroostook knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
