Baseball Game Preview: Croatan Cougars vs. New Bern Bears

The Croatan Cougars will head out on the road to square off against the New Bern Bears at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Croatan took a loss when they played away from home on Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They blew past Richlands 11-1. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Cougars' hitters, who had struggled in the games prior.

Harrison Thomas

Earned Runs

04/04/25 @ Swansboro	3
03/28/25 vs Dixon	2
03/01/25 vs New Bern	2
04/10/25 vs Richlands	1

Harrison Thomas was a major factor no matter where he played. 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). Croatan is undefeated when Thomas allows one or fewer earned runs, but 4-7 otherwise. Thomas was also big at the plate, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.

In other batting news, Weston Thomas was a standout: he went a perfect 4-for-4 with four RBI, one triple, and one run. That's the most hits he has posted since back in April of 2024. Jacob Woody was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing 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.

Meanwhile, New Bern had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They came out on top against the Falcons by a score of 9-6.

New Bern pushed their record up to 10-6 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.3 runs on average over those games. As for Croatan, with the victory, they broke their four-game losing streak and moved their record to 7-7.

Croatan skirted past New Bern 12-11 when the teams last played back in March. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Cougars since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.