Durham is 1-9 against Paradise since April of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Wednesday. The Trojans are taking a road trip to square off against the Bobcats at 4:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Durham has six straight victories, Paradise has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Durham's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Pierce as they made off with a 6-0 win. The result was nothing new for the Trojans, who have now won nine contests by six runs or more so far this season.
Not much got past Annalee Horn, who gave up just two hits and racked up 13 Ks to keep Pierce off the board. Horn has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 13 consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Sophia Owen and Clare Osbon did most of the damage at the plate: Owen went 1-for-2 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI, while Osbon went 1-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double. Another player making a difference was Ashley Spence, who went 2-for-4 with two doubles.
Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for Paradise's offense. They lost 12-0 to East Nicolaus on Friday.
Durham's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-5-1. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Paradise, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-11.
Paradise's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Durham hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .318. It's a different story for Paradise, though, as they've only averaged .234. Will they be able to contain Durham's hitters?
Durham beat Paradise 4-0 in their previous meeting back in March. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Trojans since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
