The Lemon Bay Manta Rays will look to defend their home field on Thursday against the Parrish Community Bulls at 7:00 p.m. Lemon Bay is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 6.2 runs per game this season.
Last Monday, it was a hard-fought contest, but Lemon Bay had to settle for a 6-5 defeat against North Port. Lemon Bay has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Lemon Bay got a good showing from Bradley Henson, who pitched an inning while giving up no earned runs or hits (he also didn't allow any walks).
On the hitting side, William Landers made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Joel Vazquez, who scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in two of his five plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Parrish Community had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5 runs), and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past the Mustangs 4-3. Four seems to be a good number for Parrish Community as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Wesley Anderson looked comfortable as he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits (he also only allowed one walk). He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks every time he's pitched this season. Troy Guthrie relieved him and did a solid job, striking out eight batters over four innings while giving up three earned runs off five hits (and only one walk).
At the plate, Parrish Community saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Eloy Serrata, who went 1-for-1 with two RBI.
Lemon Bay's loss dropped their record down to 3-5. As for Parrish Community, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Thursday as neither team is afraid to steal. Lemon Bay has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.6 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Parrish Community struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.2 per game. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Lemon Bay suffered a grim 9-2 defeat to Parrish Community in their previous meeting back in February. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Anderson, who pitched five innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit. Now that Lemon Bay knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
