The Pickens Academy Pirates will challenge the University Charter Trail Blazers at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Pickens Academy will roll into the match after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up one run on Wednesday, then bounced right back against Aliceville on Monday. Pickens Academy put the hurt on Aliceville with a sharp 17-5 win. With that victory, the Pirates brought their scoring average up to 6.6 runs per game.
Braden Banks
| 03/17/25 @ Aliceville | 10 |
| 03/01/25 vs Marion County | 7 |
| 03/10/25 vs White County | 3 |
| 02/25/25 @ Berry | 3 |
| 02/16/24 vs Autauga Academy | 2 |
Braden Banks made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out ten batters over 3.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Those ten strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, scoring two runs while getting on base in two of his five plate appearances. He has become a key player for Pickens Academy: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 1-6 otherwise.
In other batting news, Hudson Pennington and Ace Gregory did most of the damage at the plate: Pennington scored three runs and stole Three bases. while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances, while Gregory went 2-for-5 with four runs, one triple, and two RBI. That's the most runs Gregory has posted since back in February. The team also got some help courtesy of Griffin Hudson, who scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.
Pickens Academy always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .523. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, while University Charter put up plenty of runs on Monday, the same can't be said for Pickens County. University Charter blew past Pickens County 17-0. The Trail Blazers haven't had any issues with the Tornadoes recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive win against them.
University Charter got a massive performance out of Josiah Dubose, who scored three runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Dubose also put up a double, which was his first of the season. Another player making a difference was William Upchurch, who scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
University Charter now has a winning record of 7-6. As for Pickens Academy, they moved to 6-6 with that victory, which also ended their three-game losing streak.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Tuesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Pickens Academy has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like University Charter struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.8 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Everything went Pickens Academy's way against University Charter in their previous meeting last Friday, as Pickens Academy made off with a 12-4 win. Does Pickens Academy have another victory up their sleeve, or will University Charter turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
