The Athens Warriors will take on the Warrensburg-Latham Cardinals at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Athens has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with four straight losses, while Warrensburg-Latham will come in with 14 straight victories.
Riverton hit Athens with a four-run fifth inning on Thursday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Warriors fell just short of the Hawks by a score of 7-6.
Josh Harris made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 2-for-4 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs. That home run was his first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Davis Ishmael, who went 2-for-3 with one home run and three runs.
Meanwhile, Warrensburg-Latham hadn't done well against Shelbyville recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. The Cardinals sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 4-3 win over the Rams. That's two games straight that the Cardinals have won by just one run.
The team relied heavily on Kristopher Lawson, who went 1-for-2 with one triple, two RBI, and one run.
Warrensburg-Latham pushed their record up to 16-1 with the victory, which was their 14th straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Athens, they now have a losing record of 5-6.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Athens has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Warrensburg-Latham struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.1 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Athens might still be hurting after the 11-1 defeat they got from Warrensburg-Latham when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Will the Warriors have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other baseball content.
