The Pine Creek Eagles will head out on the road to face off against the Palmer Ridge Bears at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Pine Creek will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak.
Pine Creek's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Liberty 1-0. That's two games straight that Pine Creek has won by just one run.
The result came thanks to Ryan Prater's shutout, as he gave up just four hits and racked up 13 Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than seven strikeouts in six consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Pine Creek's victory was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Javi Jackson, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Meanwhile, it was a hard-fought contest, but Palmer Ridge had to settle for an 8-7 loss against Cheyenne Mountain on Wednesday.
Cooper Havenar was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring two runs while going 1-for-3. Another player making a difference was Dom Dygert, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
Even though they lost, Palmer Ridge hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. That's the fewest strikeouts they've managed all season.
Pine Creek pushed their record up to 14-5 with that win, which was their third straight at home. As for Palmer Ridge, their defeat dropped their record down to 9-11.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Pine Creek hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.6 home runs per game. However, it's not like Palmer Ridge struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.4. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Pine Creek took their victory against Palmer Ridge in their previous matchup back in May of 2023 by a conclusive 12-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for Pine Creek since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
