The Lakewood Ranch Mustangs will head out on the road to face off against the Berkeley Prep Buccaneers at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Lakewood Ranch is no doubt hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses.
Lakewood Ranch's hitters might be in the hot seat on Thursday considering what happened against Neumann on Tuesday. They took a 3-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Celtics. The contest marked the first time this year in which Lakewood Ranch was not able to get on the board.
Lakewood Ranch saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Carter Sprague, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with a stolen base and a double.
Meanwhile, Berkeley Prep had already won eight in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4.9 runs), and they went ahead and made it nine on Tuesday. They had just enough and edged the Thunder out 6-4.
The team relied heavily on Josh Herrmann, who scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Nolan Metcalf, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Lakewood Ranch's defeat dropped their record down to 10-10-1. As for Berkeley Prep, they have been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 13 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-9 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Lakewood Ranch has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Berkeley Prep struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Lakewood Ranch beat Berkeley Prep 3-0 in their previous matchup back in March of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lakewood Ranch since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
