West Orange is on a five-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Timber Creek is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The West Orange Warriors will take on the Timber Creek Wolves in a tournament on Monday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (West Orange: 3.1, Timber Creek: 2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
West Orange will bounce into Monday's game after beating Olympia, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. West Orange narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Olympia 8-7. With that win, the Warriors brought their scoring average up to 6.1 runs per game.
Nicolas Caso looked comfortable as he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. That's the fewest hits he has allowed since back in March of 2024.
On the hitting side, Brooklyn Hicks was excellent, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with one stolen base and one RBI. That stolen base marked the first that he stole this season. Angel Martinez was another key player, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, while Timber Creek put up some runs on Friday, the same can't be said for Boone. Timber Creek blew past Boone 8-0. The contest marked the Wolves' most dominant victory of the season so far.
Timber Creek also got a great performance from Hunter Wieckowski as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only a hit while striking out 12 over six innings pitched. The dominant performance gave Wieckowski a new career-high in strikeouts.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Elijah Buffaloe, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Another player making a difference was Johann Mercado, who scored two runs while going 1-for-2.
Timber Creek's win bumped their record up to 6-2. As for West Orange, their victory bumped their record up to 7-2.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. West Orange has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Timber Creek struggles in that department as they've been averaging 11.2 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
West Orange came out on top in a nail-biter against Timber Creek in their previous meeting back in March of 2022, sneaking past 2-1. Will West Orange repeat their success, or does Timber Creek have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.