The Lincoln Cougars will head out to square off against the East Fairmont Bees at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Lincoln is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 10.8 runs per game this season.
Lincoln barely beat Preston the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Cougars put the hurt on the Knights with a sharp 21-5 win on Monday. The victory continues a trend for the Cougars in their matchups with the Knights: they've now won eight in a row.
Haleigh Gump
| 04/21/25 @ Preston | 3 |
| 04/19/25 vs Sissonville | 2 |
| 04/09/25 @ Lewis County | 2 |
| 03/25/25 vs Elkins | 2 |
| 03/19/25 @ North Marion | 2 |
The team relied heavily on Haleigh Gump, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with five RBI, three runs, and two doubles. Those three runs gave her a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Aspen Dyer, who went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI.
Lincoln always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .659. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, East Fairmont was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fifth straight loss. They came up short against Fairmont Senior, falling 11-2.
East Fairmont saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Reese Van Zant, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base.
Lincoln's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-7. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for East Fairmont, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-12.
East Fairmont's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Lincoln has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 10.6 hits per game. It's a different story for East Fairmont, though, as they've been averaging 10.9 hits. Given Lincoln's sizable advantage in that area, the Bees will need to find a way to close that gap.
Lincoln was able to grind out a solid win over East Fairmont in their previous matchup back in March, winning 13-10. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Cougars since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
