The Evart Wildcats will square off against the Mason County Eastern Cardinals at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Evart will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each game than the last.
Evart is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Lake City a 10-0 shutout on Tuesday. The victory continues a trend for the Wildcats in their matchups with the Trojans: they've now won six in a row.
Lucas Johnson made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He tossed 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Johnson was also big at the plate, getting on base in two of his four plate appearances with two RBI and one run.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Aidan Anderson, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases, two runs, and one double. Another player making a difference was Sean Jackson, who went 3-for-4 with three stolen bases and three runs.
Evart hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their strikeout total in three consecutive matches.
Nine must be Mason County Eastern's lucky number: they beat Mesick with that score not once but twice on Monday. The Cardinals came out on top against the Bulldogs by a score of 9-6. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Cardinals.
Like Evart, Mason County Eastern also got a great game from a two-way player: Aaron Drake. On the mound, he struck out eight batters over five innings while giving up four earned runs off only one hit. That's the most strikeouts Drake has posted since back in March. He was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs. Mason County Eastern is 3-1 when Drake posts two or more runs, but 1-9 otherwise.
Drake wasn't the only one making solid contact as five players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Eric Vercshuren, who went 3-for-4 with three RBI and one run. Trevor Steffas was another, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and one run.
Mason County Eastern's win bumped their record up to 4-10. As for Evart, their victory bumped their record up to 5-3-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Evart has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Mason County Eastern struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.1 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.
