The Laney Buccaneers will face off against the Hoggard Vikings at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Laney is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of North Carolina's top teams: Topsail, who was ranked 15th at the time (Laney was ranked 18th). The Buccaneers fell 13-10 to the Pirates on Friday. The Buccaneers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
JB Brooks stepped up to lead a balanced group of hitters: he went 3-for-4 with four RBI, one run, and one double. Trent Fowler was another key player, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with two runs and one RBI.
Topsail typically has all the answers at home, but on Tuesday Hoggard proved too difficult a challenge. They came out on top against the Pirates by a score of 11-6. With that victory, the Vikings brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Aiden Weninger looked comfortable as he tossed 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one hit in three consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Taylor Stewart, who went 2-for-4 with three stolen bases, three RBI, and two runs. Those three stolen bases gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Christian Atkinson, who went 1-for-3 with three stolen bases, two RBI, and one run.
Hoggard's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-8. The road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.3 runs over those games. As for Laney, their loss dropped their record down to 13-5.
Everything went Laney's way against Hoggard in their previous meeting back in March, as Laney made off with a 7-0 win. Do the Buccaneers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Vikings turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
