Clinton is 2-8 against Shelbyville since May of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Clinton Maroons will head out on the road to square off against the Shelbyville Rams at 4:30 p.m. Clinton is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last seven games.
Last Tuesday, Clinton narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Rantoul 7-5.
Preston Curtis tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run over six innings pitched. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Ryan Pine was a standout: he scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-2. The team also got some help courtesy of Brooks Cluver, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Shelbyville had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.5 runs), and they went ahead and made it three on Wednesday. They came out on top against the Warriors by a score of 8-5.
Jack Arthur was excellent, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Chase Wells, who went 1-for-4 with a home run.
Clinton has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 13-3 record this season. As for Shelbyville, their victory bumped their record up to 10-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Clinton has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.4 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Shelbyville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.6. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Clinton took their win against Shelbyville in their previous meeting back in March by a conclusive 8-2. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Shelbyville's Myles Hammond, who struck out nine batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and three unearned) runs off three hits. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Clinton still be able to contain Hammond? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
