The Grace Christian Crusaders will take on the C.B. Aycock Golden Falcons at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a three-game winning streak alive.
Grace Christian is returning to their home field after beating North Raleigh Christian Academy on theirs, despite the fact North Raleigh Christian Academy has dominated at home this season. The Crusaders came out on top against the Knights by a score of 11-6 on Thursday. Grace Christian's win was all the more impressive since the Knights were averaging only 3.43 runs allowed on the season.
Connor Howard was a standout: he went 2-for-3 with one home run and two RBI. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in March. The team also got some help courtesy of Jimmy Alfonsin, who went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one double.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask C.B. Aycock). Their pitcher stepped up to hand Southern Wayne an 18-0 shutout on Thursday. With that victory, the Golden Falcons brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Not much got past Braxton Toler, who gave up just three hits to keep Southern Wayne off the board. Toler also tossed no walks, which is notable because C.B. Aycock is 4-2 when he allows at most two walks, but 7-10 otherwise.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Janeson Steele, who fired off three home runs, seven RBI, and four runs while going 3-for-3. He is becoming a predictor of C.B. Aycock's success: when he posts at least three hits the team is 2-1 (and 9-11 when he doesn't). Another player making a difference was Jones Winters, who went 2-for-3 with three runs, one double, and one RBI.
C.B. Aycock kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. They are a perfect 3-0 when they post 11 or more hits.
C.B. Aycock's win bumped their record up to 11-12. As for Grace Christian, their victory bumped their record up to 18-7.
