The Jackson Academy Raiders will square off against the Manchester Academy Mavericks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Jackson Academy sitting on 11 straight victories and Manchester Academy on six.
Jackson Academy's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They came out on top against Copiah Academy by a score of 4-0. While the Raiders didn't have the best season last year (they finished 13-20-1), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.
Justin Word was excellent, going 2-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one double. That triple was his first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Deuce Jenkins, who scored two runs and stole Two bases. while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
Jackson Academy hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now struck out at most five strikeouts in four consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, everything went Manchester Academy's way against Deer Creek on Thursday as Manchester Academy made off with a 16-0 win. The Mavericks might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 12 contests by six runs or more this season.
The team relied heavily on Jon Parker Dees, who scored four runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in runs. Another player making a difference was Grant Nixon, who scored two runs.
Jackson Academy pushed their record up to 12-2 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.4 runs over those games. As for Manchester Academy, their record now sits at 18-5.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. Jackson Academy has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.6 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Manchester Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.7 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
