The New Bern Bears will challenge the Croatan Cougars at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The timing is sure in New Bern's favor as the squad sits on three straight wins at home while Croatan has been banged up by four consecutive losses on the road.
New Bern will bounce into Saturday's matchup after beating South Central, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. The Bears walked away with a 9-6 victory over the Falcons on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Croatan came into Thursday's game having lost four straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They blew past Richlands 11-1 on Thursday. The result was nothing new for the Cougars, who have now won five contests by six runs or more so far this season.
Harrison Thomas made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits (and only one walk). He also tossed a walk, which is notable because Croatan is undefeated when he allows at most two walks, but 3-7 otherwise. Thomas was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Croatan got a massive performance out of Weston Thomas, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with four RBI, one triple, and one run. That's the most hits Thomas has posted since back in April of 2024. Another player making a difference was Jacob Woody, who scored two runs and stole three bases while going 1-for-2.
Croatan always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .533. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
New Bern has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 10-6 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games. As for Croatan, the victory got them back to even at 7-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
