The Buckeye Hawks will venture away from home to take on the Verrado Vipers at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Buckeye has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with three straight defeats, while Verrado will come in with six straight victories.
Wednesday just wasn't the day for Buckeye's offense. They came up short against Youngker on Wednesday, falling 10-0. The contest marked the first time this year in which the Hawks were not able to get on the board.
Meanwhile, Verrado made easy work of Desert Edge on Wednesday and carried off a 14-1 win. The matchup marked the Vipers' most dominant victory of the season.
Colton Zacher made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out 11 batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits (and not a single walk). He has been consistent : he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in six consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Verrado let Aaron Gutierrez and Eli Bebleh run wild. Gutierrez scored a run while going 3-for-3, while Bebleh scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-3. The dominant performance also gave Gutierrez a new career-high in RBI (three). Another player making a difference was Bode Acton, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Verrado hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least five batters in four consecutive games.
Verrado's win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 12-5-1. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.8 runs over those games. As for Buckeye, their loss dropped their record down to 4-11.
Buckeye came up short against Verrado in their previous matchup on Monday, falling 5-1. Can the Hawks avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
