Baseball Preview: Freedom Patriots vs. Nazareth Area Blue Eagles
Freedom is 1-9 against Nazareth Area since April of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Freedom Patriots will head out on the road to square off against the Nazareth Area Blue Eagles at 4:00 p.m. Freedom is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 6.6 runs per game this season.
Freedom is probably headed into the match with a chip on their shoulder considering Northampton just ended the team's five-game winning streak on Saturday. Their rough 10-1 loss to the Konkrete Kids might stick with them for a while. Having soared to a lofty 12 runs in the game before, Freedom couldn't push the score so high this time.
Alex Suarez made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored a run while going 2-for-2.
Meanwhile, Nazareth Area sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with an 8-7 victory over Bangor on Saturday.
Nazareth Area let Arye Pulli and David Bertz loose on the outfield. Pulli scored a run while going 2-for-3, while Bertz went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Aidan Butz, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-5.
Freedom's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 8-5. As for Nazareth Area, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season.
Monday's game might come down to which pitcher can control the ball better. Freedom has hit smart this season, having averaged an OBP of .437. However, it's not like Nazareth Area struggles in that department as they've averaged .460. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Freedom might still be hurting after the 17-10 loss they got from Nazareth Area when the teams last played back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bertz, who struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). Now that Freedom knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
