For the second straight game, Starks will face off against Hackberry. The Panthers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Mustangs at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Starks fell victim to Hackberry and their airtight pitching crew on Tuesday. They took a 5-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Mustangs. The defeat continues a trend for the Panthers in their meetings with the Mustangs: they've now lost nine in a row.
For Hackberry's part, Devin Murphy made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out 12 over seven innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts Murphy has posted since back in February. He was also solid in the batter's box, earning one run and two stolen bases. Hackberry is undefeated when Murphy posts two or more stolen bases, but 2-6 otherwise.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Madden Spicer, who went 2-for-3 with one home run, two stolen bases, and two runs. He is becoming a predictor of Hackberry's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 4-6 when he doesn't). Tripp Bunch was another key player, going 1-for-2 with one run and one RBI.
The win (which was Hackberry's third in a row) raised their record to 7-6. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Starks, their loss dropped their record down to 7-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
