The Salem Blue Devils will challenge the Merrimack Tomahawks at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Merrimack will challenge a team with plenty of momentum: Salem extended their winning streak to five on Wednesday. The Blue Devils came within a single run of losing the streak, but they secured a 6-5 W against Timberlane. That's two games straight that the Blue Devils have won by just one run.
Meanwhile, Merrimack can bid farewell to their ten-game losing streak thanks to their game on Wednesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Nashua North 4-3. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Tomahawks have posted since April 29th.
Ryan Mainey made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out nine batters over six innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits. Those nine strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 3-for-5 with two RBI.
In other batting news, Shea Collins was excellent, going 3-for-4 with one triple, one run, and one RBI. That triple marked the first that he has hit this season. Evan Sousa was another key player, going 1-for-4 with two runs.
Merrimack kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That's the most hits they've managed all season.
Salem pushed their record up to 14-10 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games. As for Merrimack, their victory bumped their record up to 3-15-1.
Salem suffered a grim 12-5 defeat to Merrimack in their previous matchup back in May of 2019. Can the Blue Devils avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
