The Cherokee Trail Cougars will head out on the road to square off against the Cherry Creek Bruins at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Cherokee Trail can't be too worried about heading out to take on Cherry Creek: they just beat Grandview at home, who had been dominant on their own field up to that point. Cherokee Trail blew past Grandview 15-3. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Cherokee Trail.
Connor Carlson looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one walk in four consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Cherokee Trail got a massive performance out of Akoi Burton, who went 3-for-4 with a home run, five RBI, and two runs. The team also got some help courtesy of Braedan Reichert, who scored four runs while going 3-for-3.
Meanwhile, Cherry Creek had already won ten in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 10.5 runs), and they went ahead and made it 11 on Tuesday. Everything went their way against the Raptors as they made off with a 20-9 victory.
Tyler Weston looked comfortable as he struck out six batters over four innings while giving up three earned (and two unearned) runs off eight hits (and not a single walk).
At the plate, Mason Scott was a standout: he went 3-for-4 with five RBI, two runs, and a triple. Another player making a difference was Connor Larkin, who got on base in four of his five plate appearances with a home run, three runs, and two RBI.
Cherokee Trail is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-6 record this season. As for Cherry Creek, they pushed their record up to 17-4-1 with that win, which was their seventh straight at home.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Cherokee Trail has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Cherry Creek struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.4. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Cherokee Trail came up short against Cherry Creek in their previous meeting last Tuesday, falling 5-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cherry Creek's Ryan Falke, who tossed five innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Now that Cherokee Trail knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
