The North Pole Patriots will be playing in front of their home fans against the Wasilla Warriors at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
North Pole is hoping to deliver their fans another blowout on Thursday, just like they did against Monroe Catholic (and have done all season long). North Pole was the clear victor by a 13-3 margin over Monroe Catholic on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for North Pole.
Ryan Martinez and Simeon Langer were a major factor no matter where they played. Throwing, Martinez tossed two innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off one hit. Meanwhile, Langer pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive pitching appearances. At the plate, Martinez scored three runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-4, while Langer went 1-for-3 with a triple, a run, and an RBI.
In other batting news, North Pole let Caleb Korhonen and Max Earl loose on the outfield. Korhonen scored a run while going 2-for-4, while Earl scored three runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Korhonen has been hot recently, having posted three or more RBI the last three times he's played. Landon Ritter was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Wasilla scored the most runs they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They blew past Grace Christian 20-10. With that win, Wasilla brought their scoring average up to 6.9 runs per game.
Aiden Perez looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
On the hitting side, Hunter Delcour was a standout: he scored four runs and stole four bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. The team also got some help courtesy of Whalen Havlerson, who went 1-for-4 with three runs, four RBI, and a stolen base.
The victory got North Pole back to even at 3-3-1. As for Wasilla, their win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 4-6.
Wasilla's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: North Pole hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .335. It's a different story for Wasilla, though, as they've only averaged .186. Will they be able to contain North Pole's hitters?
North Pole couldn't quite finish off Wasilla when the teams last played back in April and fell 5-3. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Wasilla's Ramon Guzman, who tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Now that North Pole 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
