The North Ridgeville Rangers will look to defend their home field on Saturday against the Medina Battling Bees at 11:00 a.m. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (North Ridgeville: 2.8, Medina: 3.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.
North Ridgeville's hitters might be in the hot seat on Saturday considering what happened against Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin on Thursday. They fell just short of the Lions by a score of 1-0. It was the first time this season that North Ridgeville let down their fans at home.
Jack Palcie spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on three hits.
Meanwhile, Medina had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.6 runs), and they went ahead and made it six on Wednesday. They skirted past the Blue Devils 2-1.
Medina's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Nick Hayes, who scored a run and stole three bases while going 2-for-2. Hayes has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. Another player making a difference was Brian Wuchter, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
North Ridgeville's loss ended a 17-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 12-4. As for Medina, their victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. North Ridgeville has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Medina struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.1. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
