Baseball Game Preview: Western Reserve Roughriders vs. Mapleton Mounties

For the second straight game, Western Reserve will face off against Mapleton. The Roughriders will host the Mounties at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

Mapleton hit Western Reserve with a four-run seventh inning on Monday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Roughriders fell just short of the Mounties by a score of 4-3. The loss continues a trend for the Roughriders in their meetings with the Mounties: they've now lost five in a row.

For Mapleton's part, Mason Sword was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out seven batters over 6.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. Sword has become a key player for Mapleton: the team is undefeated when he allows at most two earned runs, but 2-11 otherwise. Sword was also big at the plate, going 1-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI.

Sword wasn't the only one making solid contact as five players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Ethan Dennison, who went 1-for-3 with three RBI and one double. Those three RBI gave Dennison a new career-high. Landon Jenkins was another, getting on base in all three of his plate appearances with one stolen base and one run.

Western Reserve's defeat dropped their record down to 6-6. As for Mapleton, with the win, they broke their four-game losing streak and moved their record to 5-11.