Matanzas and Seabreeze are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2019, but likely not for long. The Matanzas Pirates will be playing at home against the Seabreeze Sandcrabs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.
On Thursday, Matanzas suffered a rough 11-5 loss at the hands of Father Lopez.
Matanzas saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ben Apfelbach, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Wiley Conner, who scored two runs while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Seabreeze fell victim to a tough 10-2 defeat at the hands of Flagler Palm Coast on Wednesday. Seabreeze has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Micah Sanders was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he didn't allow a single earned run over five innings pitched.
Matanzas has been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-10 record this season. As for Seabreeze, their loss dropped their record down to 8-12.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Matanzas has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Seabreeze struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Matanzas might still be hurting after the 7-1 defeat they got from Seabreeze in their previous meeting back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sanders, who didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out ten over six innings pitched. Now that Matanzas knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
