The Lumberton Pirates will venture away from home to square off against the Apex Friendship Patriots at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Lumberton 3.9, Apex Friendship 3.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Lumberton made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Gray's Creek, but they still couldn't quite topple them. The Pirates fell just short of the Bears by a score of 5-3 on Friday.
Jace Wilson
| 05/02/25 vs Gray's Creek | 1 |
| 04/29/25 vs Douglas Byrd | 0 |
| 04/09/25 @ Seventy-First | 1 |
Jace Wilson was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he tossed 4.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Lumberton saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Brennan Griffin, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Apex Friendship came tearing into Thursday's match with ten straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.8 runs), and they left with even more momentum. Everything went their way against the Golden Hawks as they made off with a 9-0 victory. Considering the Patriots have won 11 games by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Not much got past Owen Cirasole, who gave up just three hits to keep Holly Springs off the board.
At the plate, Connor Payne was incredible, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, one run, and one double. Another player making a difference was Jason Brown, who went 1-for-3 with one triple and one run.
Apex Friendship was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .379. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .333 or higher in four consecutive contests.
Apex Friendship's win bumped their record up to 21-6. As for Lumberton, their defeat dropped their record down to 15-8.
Tuesday's matchup will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Lumberton hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .342. However, it's not like Apex Friendship struggles in that department as they've averaged .313. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other baseball content.
