The Athens Drive Jaguars will be playing in front of their home fans against the Green Level Gators at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Athens Drive has three straight victories, Green Level has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Athens Drive stacked a fifth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Wednesday. They put the hurt on Garner with a sharp 9-3 win. That's two games straight that Athens Drive has won by exactly six runs.
Nathan Bunch made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run over six innings pitched. Bunch was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 3-for-5.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Anderson Hanes, who went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a double. Another player making a difference was Hansel Diaz, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, it was a hard-fought match, but Green Level had to settle for a 4-3 loss against Holly Springs on Tuesday. That's two games in a row now that Green Level has lost by just one run.
Isaiah Hytmiah was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-2.
Athens Drive's victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-4. Those good results were due in large part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.6 runs per game. As for Green Level, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-9.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Athens Drive has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Green Level struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Athens Drive came out on top in a nail-biter against Green Level in their previous matchup on Saturday, sneaking past 5-4. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Green Level's Carter Zamora, who struck out nine batters over 5.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Athens Drive still be able to contain Zamora? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
