The Ashley Screaming Eagle will face off against the Apex Friendship Patriots on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Ashley sitting on five straight victories and Apex Friendship on 12.
Ashley is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They had just enough and edged out Broughton 4-3. Four seems to be a good number for the Screaming Eagle as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Cane Mehling spent all eight innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned (and one unearned) runs on seven hits and racked up eight Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in 12 consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Ashley saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Coleman Cross, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one double. That's the most hits Cross has posted since back in March. Quinn Bentley was another, going 1-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, while Apex Friendship put up some runs on Tuesday, the same can't be said for Lumberton. The Patriots blew past the Pirates 7-0. The Patriots might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 12 games by six runs or more this season.
Apex Friendship also got a great performance from Luke Hemric as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out 16 over six innings pitched.
At the plate, Braden Bloom was a standout: he went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and one run. Another player making a difference was Connor Sousa, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with one run and one RBI.
Apex Friendship's victory was their 11th straight at home, which pushed their record up to 22-6. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for Ashley, their record now sits at 21-4.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Ashley has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Apex Friendship struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.9 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
