The North Pocono Trojans will head out on the road to square off against the Abington Heights Comets at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.
On Thursday, it was a hard-fought contest, but North Pocono had to settle for a 6-5 loss against Holy Redeemer.
North Pocono got a good showing from Nick Reese, who kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out nine over four innings pitched.
On the hitting side, North Pocono saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Zach Hatala, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Even though they lost, North Pocono didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with 12 strikeouts. That's the most strikeouts they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Abington Heights came tearing into Wednesday's matchup with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.5 runs) and they left with even more momentum. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 9-7 victory over the Warriors.
Reese Zalewski was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching an inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Zalewski was also big at the plate, getting on base in four of his five plate appearances with three RBI.
In other batting news, Mark Nazar was excellent, scoring two runs while going 3-for-5. Another player making a difference was Jake Lenahan, who scored three runs while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances.
North Pocono's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 8-10. As for Abington Heights, their win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 14-3.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. North Pocono has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Abington Heights struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.1. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Everything went North Pocono's way against Abington Heights in their previous matchup back in April as North Pocono made off with a 10-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for North Pocono since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
