The Beachside Barracudas will take on the Clay Blue Devils at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Beachside: 4, Clay: 3.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Beachside is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They never let Columbia onto the board and left with a 2-0 victory. Winning may never get old, but Beachside sure is getting used to it with their fourth in a row.
Not much got past Jake Meadows, who gave up just four hits and racked up nine Ks to keep Columbia off the board.
On the hitting side, Derek Ochoa was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Brian D'Errico, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and an RBI.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Clay, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. They came out on top against Ponte Vedra by a score of 11-7 on Tuesday. The high-scoring effort was just what Clay needed considering they were shutout in their previous game.
The team relied heavily on Easton McMahan, who went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI. Lukas Moore was another key contributor, scoring two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Beachside is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 16-13 record this season. As for Clay, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-9.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Beachside has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Clay struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Beachside came up short against Clay in their previous matchup back in April, falling 4-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Clay's Preston Andrews, who didn't allow a single earned run over seven innings pitched. Now that Beachside knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
