The Antioch Panthers will square off against the Fairfield Falcons at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Antioch has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the contest with four straight losses, while Fairfield will come in with three straight victories.
Antioch came up short against Freedom on Thursday, falling 9-2.
Antioch saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jaxon Connelly, who went 2-for-3 with one double.
Meanwhile, Fairfield got the win against Johnson on Thursday by a conclusive 19-1. The Falcons might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 17 games by six runs or more this season.
Devin Knox and Donavan Luu were major factors while hitting and pitching. On the mound, Knox pitched 1.2 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Meanwhile, Luu struck out six batters over 3.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Those six strikeouts gave him a new career-high. At the plate, Knox got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and one double, while Luu went a perfect 5-for-5 with two stolen bases, three runs, and four RBI. Luu is also on a roll when it comes to triples, as he's now hit at least one in each of the last four games he's played.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Tristen Smith, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases, three RBI, and two runs. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was Ricardo Martin, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI.
Fairfield kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 21 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least 19 hits in three consecutive matches.
Fairfield's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 19-6. Those road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 15.5 runs over those games. As for Antioch, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-12.
Antioch came out on top in a nail-biter against Fairfield in their previous matchup back in February, sneaking past 5-4. Will the Panthers repeat their success, or do the Falcons have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
