With a playoff game on the line, Kearny rose to the challenge on Wednesday. They put the hurt on the Mountain Empire Redhawks with a sharp 9-1 victory. Considering Kearny has won nine matches by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Nicolas Hembera made a big impact no matter where he played. He struck out six batters over six innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Hembera has been consistent recently: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in six consecutive pitching appearances. Hembera was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Laird Eaton, who went 3-for-3 with four RBI and a run. Another player making a difference was Anthony Patricio, who went 3-for-3 with three RBI.
On Mountain Empire's side, Isaac Gonzalez made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored a run and stole two bases while going 1-for-3.
Kearny is on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 13 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 17-9 record this season. As for Mountain Empire, their defeat ended a six-game streak of away wins and brought them to 12-5.
Kearny will head out on the road to take on Coastal Academy at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Coastal Academy is on a three-game streak of home wins, Kearny a five-game streak of away wins -- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the field. Mountain Empire will take on Army-Navy at 3:30 a.m. on Friday. Mountain Empire is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 10.4 runs per game this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
