Baseball Game Preview: Oak Ridge Trojans vs. Rocklin Thunder

For the second straight game, Oak Ridge will face off against Rocklin. The Trojans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Thunder at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The last three games Oak Ridge has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

Oak Ridge fought the good fight in their extra-innings matchup against Rocklin on Monday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Thunder by a score of 3-2. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last six times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.

For Rocklin's part, they got a great performance from Andrew Hancock as he struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits (and only one walk). Hancock is becoming a predictor of the Thunder's success: when he allows at most two earned runs the team is 6-2-1 (and 6-11 when he doesn't).

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Roman Castellanos, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, one run, and one double. That's the most stolen bases he has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was Max Griffith, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run.

The victory was the fourth in a row for Rocklin, bringing their record up to 12-13-1. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Oak Ridge, their defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 11-14.