The Mount Olive Pirates will venture away from home to challenge the North Forrest Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty run totals in their previous games.
Last Friday, Mount Olive came up short against McLaurin and fell 18-13. The Pirates have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Haiden Payne
| 03/14/25 @ Varsity Opponent | 3 |
| 03/28/25 @ McLaurin | 2 |
| 03/22/25 @ Varsity Opponent | 2 |
| 02/28/25 @ Forest | 1 |
| 02/18/25 @ Salem | 1 |
| + 1 more games |
Haiden Payne made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs and stole four bases while going 2-for-4. He is becoming a predictor of Mount Olive's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 2-1 (and 0-6 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Zavion Griffin, who scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in four of his six plate appearances.
Meanwhile, North Forrest waltzed into their match on Tuesday with six straight wins... but they left with seven. Everything went their way against the Oilers as they made off with a 17-2 victory. Considering the Eagles have won seven games by more than six runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Brandon Harris was a major factor no matter where he played. He tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Harris was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
In other batting news, Lontrell Strickland was excellent, scoring three runs while going 2-for-2. Those two hits gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Logan Hall, who went 1-for-4 with four RBI.
North Forrest was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .412. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive contests.
North Forrest's win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-4. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.7 runs over those games. As for Mount Olive, their loss dropped their record down to 2-7.
Mount Olive took their win against North Forrest when the teams last played back in March of 2020 by a conclusive 16-1 score. Do the Pirates have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Eagles turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
