Baseball Preview: Howard Lions vs. Atholton Raiders
The Howard Lions will head out on the road to take on the Atholton Raiders at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday. Howard's pitching crew has only allowed 3.6 runs per game this season, so Atholton's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Having struggled with three losses in a row, Howard finally turned things around against Long Reach on Friday. Howard won by a run and slipped past Long Reach 5-4.
Brennan Giangrasso spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned (and two unearned) runs on eight hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Hunter Hilte, who scored a run and stole three bases while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Ben Plasterer, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with a stolen base and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Monday just wasn't the day for Atholton's offense. They lost 10-0 to Centennial on Monday. Atholton has not had much luck with Centennial recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Even though they lost, Atholton didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with five strikeouts. This was only their tenth loss (out of 13 games) when they post five or more strikeouts.
Howard now has a winning record of 9-8. As for Atholton, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-13.
Howard was able to grind out a solid victory over Atholton in their previous meeting back in May of 2023, winning 6-3. The rematch might be a little tougher for Howard since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
