Grassfield dropped their record down to 12-6 on Friday, which also ended the team's six-game streak of wins on the road. They fell just short of the Hickory Hawks by a score of 11-10. If the Grizzlies were looking for revenge after losing 6-4 to the Hawks when the teams met back in May of 2024, then they'll just have to keep looking.
As for Hickory, their victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-5. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last four times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
For Hickory's part, they got a great performance from Jake Cozart as he struck out seven batters over 4.2 innings while giving up four earned runs off only two hits. Cozart has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in five consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Eli Kraft, who got on base in all five of his plate appearances with two stolen bases, two runs, and one double. Hickory is undefeated when Kraft posts two or more runs, but 3-5 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Matthew Kemick, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI.
We've got plenty of inter-region action coming up soon. Grassfield will challenge rival Oscar Smith at 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Hickory is set to face off against their familiar foe Lakeland at 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
