Baseball Game Preview: Melbourne Bulldogs vs. Merritt Island Mustangs

The Melbourne Bulldogs will head out on the road to take on the Merritt Island Mustangs at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Melbourne will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each match than the last.

Melbourne is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They walked away with a 9-5 victory over Palm Bay on Thursday. The win continues a trend for the Bulldogs in their matchups with the Pirates: they've now won five in a row.

Noah Lopez looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run over four innings pitched.

On the hitting side, Nolan Keeley was a standout: he scored two runs and stole Three bases. while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. That's the most runs he has posted since back in April of 2024. Another player making a difference was Bryson Ayala, who scored two runs and stole Three bases.

Meanwhile, Merritt Island came up short against Eau Gallie on Wednesday and fell 7-2.

Merritt Island also got a good showing from Benjamin Hettinger, who tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Hettinger has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one hit in four consecutive appearances.

Melbourne's record now sits at 5-3. As for Merritt Island, their loss dropped their record down to 7-3.

Melbourne came up short against Merritt Island when the teams last played two weeks ago, falling 3-0. Can Melbourne avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.