The West Warwick Wizards will square off against the North Providence Cougars at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (West Warwick 2.4, North Providence 3.7) so any runs scored will be well earned.
West Warwick is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Ponaganset, who was ranked 25th at the time (West Warwick was ranked 12th). The Wizards walked away with a 5-1 win over the Chieftains on Tuesday.
Anthony Burt spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered a run (which was unearned) on one hit and racked up 12 Ks.
On the hitting side, Jair Blanco and Nick Andruchow did most of the damage at the plate: Blanco went 2-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one double, while Andruchow went 1-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI. Luke Gallo was another key player, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Meanwhile, North Providence sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 7-5 victory over Rogers on Friday.
North Providence also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and he was also dialed-in: Tony Abed gave up four earned (and one unearned) runs on 13 hits and racked up six Ks.
At the plate, Ronnie Paux was incredible, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI. That's the most stolen bases he has posted since back in April. Another player making a difference was Carter Harris, who went 1-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base.
North Providence's win bumped their record up to 13-5. As for West Warwick, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a nice bump to their 13-4 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Sunday as neither team is afraid to steal. West Warwick has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.2 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like North Providence struggles in that department as they've been averaging 2.9 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
West Warwick was able to grind out a solid victory over North Providence when the teams last played back in May of 2019, winning 8-5. Will the Wizards repeat their success, or do the Cougars have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
