Baseball Game Preview: Northern Durham Knights vs. Hillside Hornets

Northern Durham is a perfect 10-0 against Hillside since March of 2018 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Wednesday. The Knights will be playing at home against the Hornets at 6:00 p.m.

Northern Durham's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They were the clear victors by a 10-0 margin over Hillside. Considering the Knights have won five matches by more than six runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.

Liam Hawkes was a major factor no matter where he played. He didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits over four innings pitched. He also tossed a walk, which is notable because Northern Durham is undefeated when he allows at most two walks, but 4-6 otherwise. Hawkes was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances.

J.P. Rodio

Runs Batted In (Career)

04/10/25 @ Hillside	4
03/26/25 vs East Chapel Hill	2
03/19/25 @ Southern School of Energy and Sustainability	2
04/02/25 @ Green Level	1
03/27/25 @ East Chapel Hill	1

In other batting news, J.P. Rodio was incredible, going a perfect 3-for-3 with three stolen bases, four RBI, and one run. Those four RBI gave him a new career-high. J.D. Williams was another key player, scoring a run while going 2-for-2.

Northern Durham was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .500. They are a perfect 5-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.

Northern Durham pushed their record up to 7-6 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Hillside, they are on a five-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 3-7.

The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Wednesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Northern Durham has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.5 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Hillside struggles in that department as they've been averaging 2.8 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.