North Iredell is 1-9 against North Lincoln since April of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The North Iredell Raiders will look to defend their home field against the North Lincoln Knights at 7:30 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
North Iredell is is headed into Thursday's matchup looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their fourth straight game on Tuesday. They lost 9-3 to Foard.
Thomas Shumaker made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.
Meanwhile, it was a hard-fought match, but North Lincoln had to settle for a 7-6 loss against West Iredell on Monday.
North Lincoln also got a good showing from Cooper Seagle, who pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits.
On the hitting side, North Lincoln saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Chad Matthews, who went 1-for-3 with a stolen base and two RBI. Matthews has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Cason McGinnis, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
North Iredell's defeat dropped their record down to 6-13. As for North Lincoln, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 15-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. North Iredell has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like North Lincoln struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
North Iredell beat North Lincoln 4-1 in their previous meeting back in April. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was North Lincoln's Brady Rinkus, who struck out eight batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will North Iredell still be able to contain Rinkus? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
