The Liberty-Benton Eagles will take on the Hopewell-Loudon Chieftains at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Liberty-Benton barely beat Patrick Henry the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Eagles blew past the Patriots 15-7 on Tuesday. The victory was nothing new for the Eagles as they're now sitting on eight straight.
Meanwhile, Hopewell-Loudon had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 7 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Wednesday. They were the clear victors by a 13-3 margin over the Lakers.
Matthew Wyman made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Wyman was even better at the plate, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases, two runs, and one double. That's the most runs he has posted since back in April.
In other batting news, Brayden Brickman and Kellen Frankart did most of the damage at the plate: Brickman got on base in all four of his plate appearances with four stolen bases, three runs, and three RBI, while Frankart got on base in all four of his plate appearances with three stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI. That's the most RBI Brickman has posted over his last ten games. Braylon Martinez was another key player, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Hopewell-Loudon always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .636. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Danbury only posted an OBP of .333.
Liberty-Benton's win was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-3. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Hopewell-Loudon, their win bumped their record up to 18-5.
Everything went Liberty-Benton's way against Hopewell-Loudon when the teams last played back in May of 2023, as Liberty-Benton made off with a 12-2 victory. Do the Eagles have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Chieftains turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
