The Bluffton Tigers will look to defend their home field on Monday against the Eastbrook Panthers at 5:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Bluffton has seven straight wins, Eastbrook has 11 straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Thursday, Bluffton had just enough and edged Jay County out 5-4.
Braxton Betancourt made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 11 batters over 5.1 innings while giving up three earned runs off five hits. Betancourt has been consistent recently: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in six consecutive pitching appearances. Betancourt was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-3.
Betancourt wasn't the only one making solid contact as seven players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Aaron Streveler, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Streveler has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one hit in four consecutive pitching appearances. Easton Blair was another key contributor, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double.
Meanwhile, Eastbrook scored first but ultimately less than Cowan in their matchup on Saturday. They fell just short of the Blackhawks by a score of 11-10. That's two games in a row now that Eastbrook has lost by just one run.
Bluffton pushed their record up to 10-5 with that victory, which was their sixth straight at home. As for Eastbrook, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-11.
Bluffton might still be hurting after the 20-5 loss they got from Eastbrook in their previous meeting back in May of 2022. Thankfully for Bluffton, Conner Boyd (who went 4-for-5 with a home run and seven RBI) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
