The Honesdale Hornets will head out on the road to take on the Mid Valley Spartans at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Honesdale's pitching crew has only allowed 4.1 runs per game this season, so Mid Valley's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
On Wednesday, it was a hard-fought matchup, but Honesdale had to settle for a 10-8 defeat against Holy Cross.
Nate Greene put in work while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching five innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits. Greene was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 3-for-4. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played.
Greene wasn't the only one making solid contact as seven players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Jared Ahern, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Grant Tonkin, who scored a run while going 1-for-4.
Even though they lost, Honesdale hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. That's the fewest strikeouts they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Mid Valley had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.5 runs), and they went ahead and made it three on Wednesday. They walked away with a 9-4 win over the Vikings. Nine seems to be a good number for Mid Valley as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Zach Angelo was excellent, scoring three runs while going 2-for-3. Jake Bondy was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.
Honesdale has traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 11-6 record this season. As for Mid Valley, they pushed their record up to 13-6 with that win, which was their fourth straight on the road.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Honesdale has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 10.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Mid Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.5. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Honesdale skirted past Mid Valley 6-5 in their previous meeting back in April. The rematch might be a little tougher for Honesdale since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
