The Cranston East Thunderbolts will head out on the road to challenge the Lincoln Lions at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Cranston East's pitching crew has only allowed 3.5 runs per game this season, so Lincoln's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Cranston East is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Portsmouth, who was ranked 20th in their home state at the time (Cranston East was ranked ninth). Cranston East fell just short of Portsmouth by a score of 4-2 on Friday. Having soared to a lofty 14 runs in the game before, Cranston East couldn't push the score so high this time.
Carlos Merejo and Jayden Tolentino did some serious damage despite the final result: Merejo went 1-for-3 with a home run, while Tolentino went 1-for-2 with a home run.
Meanwhile, Lincoln sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 4-2 victory over Pilgrim on Wednesday.
Jon-Luca Feole looked comfortable as he pitched 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Lincoln's win was truly a team effort as six different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Lucas Marshall, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
Cranston East's loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-5. As for Lincoln, their victory bumped their record up to 3-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Cranston East has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Lincoln struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.1. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Everything went Cranston East's way against Lincoln in their previous meeting back in April of 2023 as Cranston East made off with an 8-1 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Cranston East since the team 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
