The Mabank Panthers will face off against the Van Vandals at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
Mabank came up short against Van on Tuesday, falling 11-1.
For Van's part, Landon Smith made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched five innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. The dominant performance gave Smith a new career-low in hits. He was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI and one double. That's the most hits he has posted since back in April of 2024.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Asher Hawkins, who scored two runs and stole Three bases. while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Rawly Hinch was another key player, going 1-for-3 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI.
Van hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now struck out at most four strikeouts in three consecutive games.
Van is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-6-1 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.1 runs over those games. Mabank's loss dropped their record down to 6-10.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
