Baseball Game Preview: Shelton Highclimbers vs. Tumwater Thunderbirds

The Shelton Highclimbers will head out to take on the Tumwater Thunderbirds at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Neither Shelton nor Tumwater posted many runs in their last games, so it might be the pitching crews that decide this one.

On Tuesday, Shelton didn't have quite enough to beat Black Hills and fell 3-2.

Gunnar Jensen was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out eight batters over 5.2 innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits.

At the plate, Shelton saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jax Ward, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base and one run.

Meanwhile, Tumwater came up short against WF West on Tuesday and fell 5-1. The Thunderbirds have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Shelton has been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four matchups. That's put a noticeable dent in their 8-11 record this season. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.8 runs on average over those games. As for Tumwater, their defeat dropped their record down to 14-6.

Shelton suffered a grim 13-0 defeat to Tumwater in their previous meeting two weeks ago. Can the Highclimbers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.