The Beaver Bobcats will venture away from home to face off against the Ellwood City Wolverine at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Beaver 4.1, Ellwood City 4.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Beaver fell victim to Bethel Park and their airtight pitching crew on Thursday. They took a 3-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Black Hawks. The Bobcats have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Beaver saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Derek Hughes, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base.
Meanwhile, Ellwood City entered their tilt with Beaver Falls on Wednesday with two consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with three. They never let the Tigers get on the board and left with a 16-0 victory. Considering the Wolverine have won eight matches by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Jordan Keller made a splash while hitting and pitching. He tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Keller was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Geordan Bokor, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with two runs and one RBI. Those two runs gave him a new career-high. Cameron Mills was another key player, going 1-for-2 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Ellwood City always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .615. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive contests.
Ellwood City's record is now 11-4. As for Beaver, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-5.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Beaver has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Ellwood City struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.3 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Beaver took their win against Ellwood City when the teams last played back in May of 2018 by a conclusive 10-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bobcats since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
