Knightdale is 0-10 against Heritage since April of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Knightdale Knights will look to defend their home field against the Heritage Huskies at 5:00 p.m. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Knightdale was handed a ten-point defeat in their previous outing, but they didn't let that bad energy affect their game against Vance Charter on Tuesday. Knightdale had just enough and edged Vance Charter out 5-3. The victory was just what Knightdale needed coming off of an 11-1 loss in their prior contest.
Anthony Garcia was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off four hits. Garcia was also big at the plate, going 2-for-2 with an RBI.
In other batting news, Jason Dickerson was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing three bases while going 2-for-4. Bryson Irvin was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing two bases.
Meanwhile, Heritage put the finishing touches on their fourth blowout victory of the season on Monday. They put the hurt on Knightdale with a sharp 11-1 win. While fans of Heritage might be used to big wins, the ten-run margin marked the team's biggest victory yet this season.
Gage Granata looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned run off two hits (he also didn't allow any walks).
On the hitting side, Parker Cato and Jack Carela Pantaleon did most of the damage at the plate: Cato scored three runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-3, while Carela Pantaleon went 1-for-3 with a home run and two runs. Cato has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last six times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jack Merrell, who went 2-for-3 with a stolen base, two RBI, and a double.
Knightdale's win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 4-9. As for Heritage, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a massive bump to their 8-4 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Thursday as neither team is afraid to steal. Knightdale has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.5 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Heritage struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.7. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Knightdale might still be hurting after the 11-1 defeat they got from Heritage in their previous meeting on Monday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Heritage's Colbey Weeks, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Now that Knightdale 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
