Baseball Game Preview: Union Pines Vikings vs. Montgomery Central Timberwolves

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Previous 4 Games

03/13/23 - Away	5-0 W
04/19/22 - Neutral	15-4 W
04/30/21 - Home	17-6 W
03/11/20 - Away	6-0 W

Union Pines has gone a perfect 4-0 against Montgomery Central recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Monday. The Union Pines Vikings will be playing at home against the Montgomery Central Timberwolves at 7:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Union Pines 2.8, Montgomery Central 2.6) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Union Pines will bounce into Monday's matchup after beating Lee County, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. Union Pines skirted past Lee County 4-3. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Vikings have posted since March 21, 2024.

Dylan Benedict was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out 12 over seven innings pitched. Benedict was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in four of his seven plate appearances. That stolen base marked the first that he snagged this season.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Willy Rivera, who scored a run while going 3-for-6.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Montgomery Central). They never let Albemarle get on the board and left with a 27-0 win on Thursday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.

Montgomery Central's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 3-2. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Union Pines, the victory got them back to even at 2-2.

Union Pines was able to grind out a solid win over Montgomery Central when the teams last played back in March of 2023, winning 5-0. Will Union Pines repeat their success, or does Montgomery Central have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.