The Oak Ridge Trojans will challenge the Pleasant Grove Eagles at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The last five games Oak Ridge has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.
On Thursday, Oak Ridge needed a bit of extra time to put away Rocklin. They skirted past the Thunder 3-1.
Oak Ridge got a great performance from Carson Hudack as he didn't allow a single earned run over 5.1 innings pitched. Hudack has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up a single earned run in seven consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Noah Teply was incredible, going 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, one run, and one double. That's the most hits he has posted since back in April. Another player making a difference was Hudson Vetter, who went 3-for-4 with one double.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Pleasant Grove, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Wednesday. They walked away with a 5-2 win over Franklin on Thursday. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last three times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Thomas Jensen tossed a big game, tossing six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off nine hits. Pleasant Grove is 4-2 when Jensen allows one or fewer earned runs, but 8-13 otherwise.
At the plate, Pleasant Grove's victory was truly a team effort as seven different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Liam Bantau, who went 2-for-3 with one double and one RBI. Luke Nickerson was another, going 1-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Pleasant Grove is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games. That's provided a nice bump to their 12-15 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for Oak Ridge, their victory bumped their record up to 12-15.
Oak Ridge was able to grind out a solid win over Pleasant Grove in their previous matchup back in March, winning 8-5. Will the Trojans repeat their success, or do the Eagles have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
