Hancock is 0-6 against Northern since April of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Hancock Panthers will head out on the road to take on the Northern Huskies at 4:30 p.m. Hancock is coming into the match hot, having won their last five games.
Last Friday, Hancock was able to grind out a solid win over Forbes Road, taking the game 6-1.
Blaire Ray made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and only two hits while striking out eight over four innings pitched. Ray has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances. Ray was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with a triple, a stolen base, and two RBI.
In other batting news, Hancock let Shawn Thomas and Tyler Clingerman loose on the outfield. Thomas scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-3, while Clingerman went 1-for-3 with a home run.
Meanwhile, Northern beat Varsity Opponent 6-1 on Thursday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Northern.
Cole Folk and Wally Brands did most of the damage at the plate: Folk scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances, while Brands went 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs. The team also got some help courtesy of Kyle Broadwater, who got on base in all three of his plate appearances with a triple and an RBI.
Hancock has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a massive bump to their 7-8 record this season. As for Northern, the victory got them back to even at 7-7.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Monday as neither team is afraid to steal. Hancock has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 5.3 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Northern struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.1. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Hancock came up short against Northern in their previous meeting back in March, falling 4-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Folk, who struck out ten batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits (and not a single walk). Now that Hancock knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
