The Hempfield Black Knights will face off against the Annville-Cleona Dutchmen at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday. Hempfield will come into the match with an undefeated record on the line.
Hempfield's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They put the hurt on J.P. McCaskey with a sharp 11-0 win. The result was nothing new for the Black Knights, who have now won 12 contests by six runs or more so far this season.
Hempfield let Joshua Toole and Camden Hulock run wild. Toole went 3-for-4 with two runs, one triple, and one stolen base, while Hulock went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI. Those two stolen bases gave Hulock a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Jackson, who went 1-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double.
Hempfield was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .429. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .333 or higher in four consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Annville-Cleona started off well but failed to capitalize on an early lead against Northern Lebanon. They fell 5-2 to the Vikings on Wednesday. The Dutchmen have struggled against the Vikings recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive lost meeting.
Hempfield pushed their record up to 18-0 with the victory, which was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.2 runs on average over those games. As for Annville-Cleona, their loss dropped their record down to 10-8.
Everything went Hempfield's way against Annville-Cleona when the teams last played back in May of 2019, as Hempfield made off with an 11-1 victory. Do the Black Knights have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Dutchmen turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
