The Pine Lake Prep Pride will head out on the road to square off against the Lake Norman Charter Knights at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Pine Lake Prep will be strutting in after a win while Lake Norman Charter will be coming in after a loss.
Pine Lake Prep's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They came out on top against Corvian Community by a score of 5-0. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Pride.
Jeter Bynum tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out 16 over 6.1 innings pitched. What's more, he gave up only one walk, the fewest he's had since back in April of 2024.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Dylan Brandt, who went 2-for-4 with one triple, two RBI, and one run. That triple marked the first that he hit this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Aiden Kaliszewski, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Lake Norman Charter entered their matchup against East Rowan on Tuesday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Lake Norman Charter fell 11-6 to East Rowan. The pitching woes were uncharacteristic for the Knights, who until this contest were averaging 3.14 runs allowed.
David Wignot and Jesus Acuna did some serious damage despite the final result: Wignot scored a run and stole Two bases. while going 1-for-4, while Acuna scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances. That's the most stolen bases Wignot has posted since back in April of 2024. Palmer Hayes was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-5.
Pine Lake Prep pushed their record up to 6-2 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.3 runs on average over those games. As for Lake Norman Charter, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 6-1.
Both Pine Lake Prep and Lake Norman Charter just can't seem to miss. Pine Lake Prep has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 8.8 hits per game. However, it's not like Lake Norman Charter struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 4.6 hits. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Pine Lake Prep couldn't quite get it done against Lake Norman Charter in their previous matchup back in March of 2023 as they fell 8-3. Can Pine Lake Prep avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
