Baseball Game Preview: Fort Walton Beach Vikings vs. Fleming County Panthers

The Fort Walton Beach Vikings will challenge the Fleming County Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Fleming County took a loss in their last matchup and will be looking to turn the tables on Fort Walton Beach, who comes in off a win.

Fort Walton Beach proved they can win big on Friday (they won by 11) and on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They skirted past Mason County 4-3. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Vikings have posted since February 21st.

Fort Walton Beach saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Connor Job, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Another was Kadon Chapman, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-3.

Meanwhile, Fleming County has relied on a stalwart pitchers averaging 4.1 runs allowed per game, but that average took a hit on Wednesday. They came up short against Crestview, falling 17-9. Even though they lost, the Panthers' still made a splash at the plate and bumped their average scoring up to 6.3 runs per game (they're now ranked -1th in scoring overall).

Austin Robertson made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs while going 3-for-3. He has become a key player for Fleming County: the team is 2-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 3-4 otherwise. Preston Cropper was another key player, scoring a run while going 2-for-4.

Fort Walton Beach's victory bumped their record up to 8-11. As for Fleming County, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 5-5.