The Grassfield Grizzlies will head out on the road to take on the Hickory Hawks at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday. Grassfield is coming into the contest hot, having won their last ten games.
Grassfield can't be too worried about heading out to take on Hickory: they just beat Lakeland at home, who had been dominant on their own field up to that point. Grassfield's pitchers stepped up to hand Lakeland a 3-0 shutout on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Hickory put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 16-1 margin over Nansemond River. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Hickory considering their two-run performance the match before.
Tommy Blackburn looked comfortable as he tossed an inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Jake Chadwell, who went 4-for-4 with three doubles, two runs, and a stolen base. Another player making a difference was Ryan Kennedy, who scored two runs while going 1-for-4.
Grassfield pushed their record up to 12-2 with that win, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for Hickory, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 10-7-1 record this season.
Grassfield came out on top in a nail-biter against Hickory in their previous meeting back in April, sneaking past 2-0. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Blackburn, who struck out six batters over 3.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Grassfield still be able to contain Blackburn? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
