Baseball Preview: Aransas Pass Panthers vs. Mathis Pirates
Aransas Pass and Mathis are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2018, but likely not for long. The Aransas Pass Panthers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Mathis Pirates at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Aransas Pass has now lost 16 straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since February 23.
On Tuesday, Aransas Pass fell victim to a rough 12-4 defeat at the hands of George West.
Aransas Pass saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jerry Longoria, who went 3-for-4 with a triple, a stolen base, and two RBI.
Mathis was handed a 12-point loss in their previous outing, but they didn't let that bad energy affect their game against Odem on Tuesday. Mathis skirted past Odem 8-6. The win was just what Mathis needed coming off of a 12-0 defeat in their prior matchup.
Ashton Quesada made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 13 batters over 6.2 innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits (and not a single walk). Quesada has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in five consecutive pitching appearances. Quesada was also big at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI.
In other batting news, EJ Montemayor was excellent, going 2-for-3 with a triple and an RBI.
Aransas Pass' loss dropped their record down to 1-19. As for Mathis, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-7 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. Aransas Pass has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.1 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Mathis struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.6. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Aransas Pass suffered a grim 13-2 defeat to Mathis when the teams last played back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Mathis' Savion Nixon-Thompson, who didn't allow a single earned run while striking out ten over five innings pitched. Now that Aransas Pass knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
