The Burrillville Broncos will face off against the North Providence Cougars at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Burrillville is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Narragansett, who was ranked 17th at the time (Burrillville was ranked 13th). The Broncos fell just short of the Mariners by a score of 1-0 on Monday. The Broncos were red-hot at the plate heading into the match (they scored no less than ten runs in the three games prior), but the Mariners' pitcher proved too tough.
Meanwhile, North Providence strolled into their game on Monday with a perfect record and they left with the same. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Toll Gate a 7-0 shutout. With that win, the Cougars brought their scoring average up to 6.1 runs per game.
Not much got past Mike Ryan, who gave up just a hit and racked up nine Ks to keep Toll Gate off the board.
On the hitting side, Ronnie Paux was incredible, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and two doubles. Those doubles were his first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Mike Allard, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs.
North Providence hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Toll Gate struck out nine times.
North Providence's victory was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-0. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 6.3 runs over those games. As for Burrillville, they moved to 5-3 with that loss, which also ended their five-game winning streak.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Burrillville has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like North Providence struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Burrillville couldn't quite get it done against North Providence in their previous meeting back in May of 2024 as they fell 4-1. Can the Broncos avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
