The Heritage Pride will face off against the Woodgrove Wolverines at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Heritage is coming into the contest hot, having won their last eight games.
While Heritage's victory against Loudoun County wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Pride's pitcher stepped up to hand the Captains a 1-0 shutout on Tuesday. That's two games straight that the Pride have won by just one run.
Not much got past Mark Van Tuyle, who gave up just three hits and racked up eight Ks to keep Loudoun County off the board. Van Tuyle has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Heritage's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Aaron Van Tuyle, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base.
Meanwhile, it's playoff time, and Woodgrove had no trouble coming through when it counted. They came out on top against Tuscarora by a score of 4-1 on Tuesday.
Dane Marsh spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on four hits and racked up 14 Ks. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 7 strikeouts per game.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Vincenzo Cusat, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one run, one double, and one RBI. Walker Kennedy also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.
Woodgrove pushed their record up to 11-2 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Heritage, their record is now 14-11.
Heritage couldn't quite finish off Woodgrove in their previous meeting back in May and fell 7-5. Can the Pride avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
