Baseball Game Preview: West Orange-Stark Mustangs vs. Lumberton Raiders

For the second straight game, West Orange-Stark will face off against Lumberton. The Mustangs will be playing in front of their home fans against the Raiders at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. West Orange-Stark hasn't scored more than two runs for nine games straight, a trend the team is eager to reverse.

West Orange-Stark lost 18-1 to Lumberton on Tuesday.

For Lumberton's part, Hudson Emerson made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out seven over four innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts Emerson has posted since back in March. He was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

In other batting news, Ryan Verde was excellent, going 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs. Those four RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Gavin Harmse, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.

Lumberton always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .576. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Lumberton pushed their record up to 17-7-1 with the win, which was their ninth straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.8 runs over those games. As for West Orange-Stark, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-15-1.