Western Branch is 8-1 against Indian River since April of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Western Branch Bruins will be playing at home against the Indian River Braves at 5:45 p.m. Western Branch will be looking to keep their four-game home win streak alive.
Western Branch is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Virginia's top teams: Great Bridge, who was ranked fourth in their home state at the time (Western Branch was ranked 13th). Western Branch never let Great Bridge onto the board and left with a 6-0 victory on Thursday. Western Branch might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won six games by six runs or more this season.
Not much got past Gavin Biernot, who gave up just three hits and racked up eight Ks to keep Great Bridge off the board. Biernot has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Seth Sadler was a standout: he scored a run while going 2-for-2. Jacob Wright was another key contributor, going 1-for-3 with a triple and a run.
Meanwhile, Indian River was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They fell just short of Lakeland by a score of 4-3.
Joey Strauss was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he tossed six innings while giving up three earned runs off seven hits.
At the plate, Indian River saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Elijah Ham, who scored a run while going 2-for-3. The team also got some help courtesy of Logan Riley, who went 3-for-3 with an RBI.
Western Branch's win bumped their record up to 9-2. As for Indian River, their loss dropped their record down to 6-6.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Tuesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Western Branch has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Indian River struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.1. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Western Branch skirted past Indian River 3-2 in their previous meeting back in May of 2023. Will Western Branch repeat their success, or does Indian River have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
