The Cranston East Thunderbolts will head out on the road to square off against the Moses Brown Quakers at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Cranston East is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Cumberland, who was ranked fourth in their home state at the time (Cranston East was ranked 14th). Cranston East skirted past Cumberland 5-3. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Cranston East.
Cranston East got a great performance from John Devine as he struck out eight batters over 5.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off six hits (and only one walk). Devine has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in four consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Jayden Tolentino was incredible, firing off two home runs and four RBI while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Jerusalen Leon, who went 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs, and a double.
Meanwhile, Moses Brown sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 2-1 victory over Pilgrim on Monday.
Will Haggerty made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He struck out ten batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Haggerty was also big at the plate, going 1-for-2 with two stolen bases.
Haggerty wasn't the only one making solid contact as two players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was David Murphy, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Kazuya Bojarski was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances.
Cranston East now has a winning record of 5-4. As for Moses Brown, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4-1 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Cranston East has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Moses Brown struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.4. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Cranston East came out on top in a nail-biter against Moses Brown when the teams last played back in May of 2023, sneaking past 3-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for Cranston East since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
