The Somerset Briar Jumpers will square off against the Corbin Redhounds at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Having struggled with five defeats in a row, Somerset turned things around against Southwestern on Thursday. They walked away with a 5-2 victory over the Warriors.
The team relied heavily on Conner Vanderploeg, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI, one run, and one double. The team also got some help courtesy of Kole Grundy, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base.
Meanwhile, Corbin had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13 runs) and they went ahead and made it seven on Wednesday. They beat the Eagles by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 6-2.
Hunter Todd tossed a big game, tossing 4.2 innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits. What's more, he posted three strikeouts, the most he's had since back in March.
At the plate, Kade Elam was incredible, going 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, three runs, and two doubles. Another player making a difference was Noah Cima, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one run.
Corbin was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .414. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Leslie County only posted a batting average of .130.
Corbin's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-9. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.4 runs on average over those games. As for Somerset, their win bumped their record up to 8-14.
Somerset couldn't quite get it done against Corbin in their previous meeting back in May of 2024 as they fell 4-1. Can the Briar Jumpers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
