The Apex Friendship Patriots will challenge the Green Hope Falcons at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
Green Hope will be up against a hot Apex Friendship team: the squad just extended their winning streak to five. Apex Friendship's pitcher stepped up to hand Apex a 10-0 shutout on Thursday. The game snapped a strange streak: the last five times these teams have met, it?s been the away team that?s taken home the W.
Luke Hemric tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run while striking out six over five innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run any time he's pitched this season.
On the hitting side, Apex Friendship let Hayden Fones and Drew Ciaccio run wild. Fones scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-2, while Ciaccio scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. What's more, Fones posted two RBI, the most he's had since back in April of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Connor Sousa, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-1.
Apex Friendship always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .571. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Green Hope). Everything went their way against Panther Creek on Thursday as Green Hope made off with a 17-10 victory. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Falcons as it put an end to their eight-game losing streak.
Troy Haynes made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He is becoming a predictor of Green Hope's success: when he allows at most two hits the team is 2-1 (and 2-8 when he doesn't). Haynes was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring three runs while going 4-for-4.
In other batting news, Dylan Johnson was incredible, scoring four runs and stealing two bases while going 3-for-6. He also put up a triple, which was his first of the season. Another player making a difference was Patrick Davis, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-5.
Green Hope's victory bumped their record up to 4-9. As for Apex Friendship, their win bumped their record up to 7-5.
Apex Friendship was able to grind out a solid victory over Green Hope when the teams last played on Friday, winning 4-0. Will Apex Friendship repeat their success, or does Green Hope has a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
