Erie hasn't had much luck against McDowell recently, but that could start to change on Wednesday. The Royals will look to defend their home field against the Trojans at 4:30 p.m.
Erie couldn't beat Fort LeBoeuf on Monday even though they stacked four runs on them in the fifth inning. The Royals fell just short of the Bison by a score of 8-7. The Royals have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Erie saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Cameron Barnes, who went 2-for-4 with one triple and one RBI. That triple was Barnes' first of the season. Brandon Cosme was another, going 1-for-3 with one run and one RBI.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for McDowell, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. They never let Warren get on the board and left with a 9-0 win on Monday. The Trojans might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six matchups by seven runs or more this season.
McDowell also got a great performance from Ethan Bechtold as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out ten over five innings pitched. Those ten strikeouts gave Bechtold a new career-high.
On the hitting side, Evan Stranko was incredible, going 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI, and one run. That's the most doubles he has posted since back in March. The team also got some help courtesy of Quentin Orlando, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with three RBI, one run, and one double.
McDowell was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .385. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Warren only posted a batting average of .091.
McDowell has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine games. That's provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.9 runs over those games. As for Erie, their loss dropped their record down to 2-8.
Erie suffered a grim 18-3 defeat to McDowell when the teams last played on April 7th. Will the Royals have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
