The Blackstone Valley Prep PRIDE will challenge the Hope Blue Wave at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
Blackstone Valley Prep is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Exeter-West Greenwich, who was ranked tenth at the time (Blackstone Valley Prep was ranked 24th). The PRIDE came up short against the Knights on Thursday, falling 11-3. The loss continues a trend for the PRIDE in their meetings with the Knights: they've now lost five in a row.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hope). They never let Times Squared Academy get on the board and left with a 14-0 win on Friday. With that victory, the Blue Wave brought their scoring average up to 6.3 runs per game.
Jose Montero made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Montero was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Those RBI were his first of the season.
In other batting news, Hope got a massive performance out of Jerry Gamboa, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with three runs, one triple, and one RBI. That triple was Gamboa's first of the season. Marcos Medrano was another key player, going a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI, one run, and one double.
Hope always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .588. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Hope's first win this season bumped their record up to 1-5. As for Blackstone Valley Prep, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-4.
Blackstone Valley Prep got the 'W' in their previous matchup on Wednesday against Hope by a conclusive 10-0 score. Do the PRIDE have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Blue Wave turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
