The West Rusk Raiders will take on the Gladewater Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
As a matter of fact, West Rusk put up the most runs they have all season on Thursday. Everything went their way against Arp as they made off with a 15-4 win.
Cole Jackson was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out eight over five innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because West Rusk is 5-2 when he allows at most one earned run, but 6-10-1 otherwise. Jackson was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three RBI and one run.
Kam Brown
| 04/17/25 vs Arp | 4 |
| 04/11/25 @ Sabine | 2 |
| 04/15/25 @ Arp | 1 |
| 03/21/25 @ Troup | 1 |
| 03/07/25 vs Eustace | 1 |
In other batting news, Kam Brown was incredible, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with four runs, one stolen base, and one RBI. Those four runs gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Troy Hunley, who went 2-for-3 with three runs, one double, and one RBI.
West Rusk always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .576. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Arp only posted an OBP of .375.
Meanwhile, Gladewater had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8 runs) and they went ahead and made it five last Friday. They came out on top against the Tigers by a score of 13-8. 13 seems to be a good number for the Bears as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Like West Rusk, Gladewater also got a great game from a two-way player: Madaxx Vasquez. On the mound, he pitched 3.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and six unearned) runs off two hits. Vasquez has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances. He was even better at the plate, going 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Preston Bohanon, who went 1-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and one stolen base. That stolen base was his first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Jeremiah Flanagan, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base.
West Rusk is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 11-12-1 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.0 runs over those games. As for Gladewater, their victory bumped their record up to 15-9.
West Rusk took their win against Gladewater in their previous meeting back in March by a conclusive 8-0 score. Will the Raiders repeat their success, or do the Bears have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
