Valley Christian is 1-8 against Lincoln since May of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Valley Christian Lions will head out on the road to take on the Lincoln Fighting Zebras at 6:00 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Valley Christian stacked an 11th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Thursday. They put the hurt on Mesa Verde with a sharp 11-2 victory. The win was nothing new for Valley Christian as they're now sitting on four straight.
Nathan Erickson made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 18 batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off two hits (and only one walk). Erickson has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances. Erickson was also big at the plate, going 3-for-3 with three runs, three RBI, and a triple.
In other batting news, Nick Befort was incredible, going 2-for-2 with four RBI, a stolen base, and a run. Josh Yuen was another key contributor, scoring three runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Lincoln never let their opponents score on Friday. Everything went their way against Ponderosa as Lincoln made off with an 8-0 victory. The win was nothing new for Lincoln as they're now sitting on three straight.
The result came thanks to Landyn Plaut's shutout, as he gave up just four hits and racked up six Ks.
At the plate, Kenny Winters and Jake Redding did most of the damage at the plate: Winters scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-4, while Redding went 2-for-3 with four RBI and a double. Another player making a difference was Jackson Cook, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3.
Valley Christian has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 games, which provided a massive bump to their 12-5 record this season. As for Lincoln, they pushed their record up to 16-6-1 with that victory, which was their seventh straight at home.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Valley Christian has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.3 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Lincoln struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps