Baseball Game Preview: Putnam Kingsmen vs. Hood River Valley Eagles

For the first time this season, Putnam will have a chance to prove themselves in a conference matchup. They will be playing in front of their home fans against the Hood River Valley Eagles at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Putnam will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each match than the last.

On Thursday, Putnam was able to grind out a solid victory over North Salem, taking the game 8-5.

Wyatt Every looked comfortable as he tossed three innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit.

Nolan Edwards

Stolen Base (Career)

04/17/25 vs North Salem	3
03/28/25 @ Cleveland	2
03/21/25 @ Redmond	2
04/04/25 vs Reynolds	1

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Nolan Edwards, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with three stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI. Those three stolen bases gave him a new career-high. Ian Pollard was another key player, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Hood River Valley owes their pitching crew a big pat on the back after their performance on Wednesday. Everything went their way against Parkrose as they made off with an 8-0 win. The Eagles might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five contests by six runs or more this season.

Putnam pushed their record up to 7-4 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.4 runs on average over those games. As for Hood River Valley, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season.

Putnam couldn't quite finish off Hood River Valley when the teams last played back in April of 2024 and fell 4-2. Can the Kingsmen avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.