The Holyoke Dragons will square off against the Burlington Cougars at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Holyoke is looking for their season's first victory.
Holyoke came up short against Haxtun on Tuesday, falling 24-10. Even if the Dragons couldn't come away with the win, the high-scoring effort was a great turnaround for their hitters, which had struggled int the games prior.
Tomas Estrada and Eduardo Hermosillo did some serious damage despite the final result: Estrada went 2-for-3 with three runs, one stolen base, and one RBI, while Hermosillo got on base in all three of his plate appearances with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run. That stolen base marked the first that Estrada has snagged this season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Burlington, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Tuesday. They never let Stratton get on the board and left with an 8-0 victory on Thursday. The Cougars might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five matchups by six runs or more this season.
Daxton Skarphol made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out six over 6.1 innings pitched. He is becoming a predictor of Burlington's success: when he allows at most one hit the team is 3-1 (and 3-7 when he doesn't). Skarphol was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in all three of his plate appearances with one stolen base and one double.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Scout Humrich, who went 1-for-3 with three RBI, one triple, and one stolen base. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Rowdy Humrich, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
Burlington's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-8. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Holyoke, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-19.
Everything went Holyoke's way against Burlington when the teams last played back in April of 2024, as Holyoke made off with a 10-0 win. Will the Dragons repeat their success, or do the Cougars have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
