After two games on the road, Benton is heading back home. They will take on the Montgomery Red Raiders at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Last Monday, Benton didn't have quite enough to beat Bloomsburg and fell 2-1. Benton has not had much luck with Bloomsburg recently, as the team's come up short the last four times they've met.
Meanwhile, Montgomery put another one in the bag on Monday to keep their perfect season alive. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Mansfield a 6-0 shutout. The result was nothing new for Montgomery, who have now won five matchups by six runs or more so far this season.
Briar Persing was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out 13 over 6.2 innings pitched. Persing has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than eight strikeouts in six consecutive pitching appearances. Persing was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, Blake Fry was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 2-for-4.
Benton now has a losing record at 3-4. As for Montgomery, they pushed their record up to 8-0 with that win, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season.
Benton might still be hurting after the 12-0 loss they got from Montgomery when the teams last played two weeks ago. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Persing, who didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Now that Benton knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
