The Franklin Knights will be staying on the road on Wednesday to face off against the Slippery Rock Rockets at 6:30 p.m.
On Monday, it was a hard-fought matchup, but Franklin had to settle for a 4-3 defeat against Conneaut Area.
Alex Wible was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-3 with a home run.
Even though they lost, Franklin was hitting in the alleys and finished the game with three doubles. That's the most doubles they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, in what's become a running theme this season, Slippery Rock gave their fans yet another huge victory on Saturday. They put the hurt on Grove City with a sharp 10-2 win.
Isaac McCandless and Ryan Double made a big impact while hitting and pitching. Throwing, McCandless pitched four innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. Meanwhile, Double tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. McCandless has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances. At bat, McCandless went 1-for-3 with two RBI and a double, while Double scored a run while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Sal Mineo, who went 2-for-4 with five RBI, a triple, and a run. Doug Popovec was another key contributor, going 1-for-1 with two runs and a triple.
Franklin's loss was their fifth straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 3-9. As for Slippery Rock, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Wednesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Franklin has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 2.8 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Slippery Rock struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.6. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Franklin came up short against Slippery Rock in their previous meeting back in March, falling 7-3. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Double, who didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out eight over four innings pitched. Now that Franklin 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
