Baseball Game Preview: West Bladen Knights vs. Lumberton Pirates

West Bladen is on a six-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Lumberton is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The West Bladen Knights will welcome the Lumberton Pirates at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. West Bladen is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.2 runs per game this season.

West Bladen gave up the first runs last Friday, but they didn't let that get them down. They skirted past Swansboro 4-2.

Ashton Davis

Hits (Career)

03/14/25 @ Swansboro	3
03/07/25 @ East Bladen	2
03/03/25 vs East Columbus	2
02/27/25 vs Hoggard	2
05/07/24 @ Martin County	2

Ashton Davis was excellent, going 3-for-4 with one double and one RBI. Those three hits gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Garrett Dunham, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Lumberton). Their pitchers stepped up to hand Douglas Byrd a 25-0 shutout on Tuesday. The victory continues a trend for the Pirates in their matchups with the Eagles: they've now won seven in a row.

Caiden Hall made a splash while hitting and pitching. He pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Those zero hits allowed gave him a new career-low. He was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3.

In other batting news, Rodney Jacobs and Austin Thorndyke did most of the damage at the plate: Jacobs scored a run while going 1-for-1, while Thorndyke scored three runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. That run marked the first that Jacobs scored this season. Noah Britt was another key player, scoring three runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Lumberton always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .725. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Lumberton's win bumped their record up to 6-2. As for West Bladen, their victory bumped their record up to 5-1.

West Bladen took their win against Lumberton in their previous matchup back in February by a conclusive 9-2. Does West Bladen have another victory up their sleeve, or will Lumberton turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.