The Rustburg Red Devils are taking a road trip to challenge the Liberty Minutemen at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Rustburg will be strutting in after a win while Liberty will be coming in after a defeat.
Rustburg took a loss when they played away from home last Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They put the hurt on Heritage with a sharp 14-0 victory. The Red Devils haven't had any issues with the Pioneers recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive win against them.
Meanwhile, Liberty fought the good fight in their extra-innings contest against Staunton River on Thursday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Golden Eagles by a score of 2-1. Having soared to a lofty 16 runs in the game before, the Minutemen couldn't push the score so high this time.
Ethan Russell spent all 7.1 innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on ten hits. He has been consistent: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Aiden Cottrell was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases.
Liberty's loss was their fifth straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 3-16. As for Rustburg, the victory got them back to even at 8-8.
Rustburg took their win against Liberty when the teams last played back in April by a conclusive 11-2 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Red Devils 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
