Baseball Preview: Croatan Cougars vs. Dixon Bulldogs
Croatan is 8-2 against Dixon since April of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Croatan Cougars will be playing in front of their home fans against the Dixon Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. Croatan is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last nine games.
In what's become a running theme this season, Croatan gave their fans yet another huge win on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Richlands as Croatan made off with a 13-1 victory.
Liam McFadden made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he tossed two innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. McFadden has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two hits in five consecutive pitching appearances. McFadden was even better at the plate, going 3-for-3 with four RBI, two runs, and two doubles.
In other batting news, Weston Thomas and Nathan Michalowicz did most of the damage at the plate: Thomas scored three runs and stole a base while going 3-for-5, while Michalowicz scored three runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Thomas is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now stolen at least one in the last five games he's played. Another player making a difference was Broderyk Miller, who went 2-for-4 with four RBI, a run, and a double.
Meanwhile, after soaring to 14 runs the game before, Dixon was a bit more limited in their match on Tuesday. They wound up on the wrong side of a rough 11-1 walloping at the hands of Swansboro.
Dixon saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Chase Slomski, who went 1-for-2 with a stolen base.
Croatan pushed their record up to 13-3 with that win, which was their fifth straight on the road. As for Dixon, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-12.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Thursday as neither team is afraid to steal. Croatan has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.1 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Dixon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.7. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Croatan skirted past Dixon 5-4 when the teams last played two weeks ago. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Dixon's Seth Vincent, who struck out nine batters over 6.2 innings while giving up just two earned (and two unearned) runs off four hits. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Croatan still be able to contain Vincent? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
