The Burns Bulldogs will challenge the East Gaston Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
East Gaston will be up against a hot Burns squad: the team just extended their winning streak to three. Burns never let Bessemer City get on the board and left with a 21-0 victory on Friday.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask East Gaston). Everything went their way against Shelby on Friday as East Gaston made off with a 20-2 win. The victory continues a trend for the Warriors in their matchups with the Golden Lions: they've now won five in a row.
Parker Stafford and Seth Massey made a big impact no matter where they played. Throwing, Stafford didn't allow a single earned run while striking out seven over four innings pitched. Meanwhile, Massey tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. What's more, Stafford gave up only zero walks, the fewest he's had since back in February. At bat, Stafford scored a run and stole a base while going 4-for-4, while Massey scored three runs. Stafford has become a key player for East Gaston: the team is undefeated when he posts at least three hits, but 4-5 otherwise.
In other batting news, Cameron Barnette and Zane Dodd did most of the damage at the plate: Barnette scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-2, while Dodd went 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and one triple. Barnette is becoming a predictor of East Gaston's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 5-1 (and 3-4 when he doesn't). Payton Matthews was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
East Gaston always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .649. The last time their OBP was this high was back in April of 2024.
Burns pushed their record up to 13-2 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for East Gaston, their win bumped their record up to 8-5.
Burns took their victory against East Gaston in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 8-0. Does Burns have another victory up their sleeve, or will East Gaston turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
