Baseball Game Preview: IMG Academy Royal Ascenders vs. Inspiration Academy Lions

IMG Academy Royal is 0-5 against Inspiration Academy since April of 2022 but things could change on Wednesday. The IMG Academy Royal Ascenders will host the Inspiration Academy Lions at 4:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (IMG Academy Royal: 3, Inspiration Academy: 3.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Last Friday, IMG Academy Royal narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Bonita Springs 2-1.

Josh Riordan

Earned Runs

02/21/25 vs Bonita Springs	1
02/14/25 @ George Jenkins	1
02/11/25 vs Southwest Florida Christian	0

IMG Academy Royal got a great performance from Josh Riordan as he pitched five innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. Riordan has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run any time he's pitched this season.

At the plate, IMG Academy Royal's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Kanta Miyabe, who scored a run while going 2-for-2.

Meanwhile, Inspiration Academy put another one in the bag on Thursday to keep their perfect season alive. Everything went their way against IMG Academy Royal as Inspiration Academy made off with an 8-2 victory. The eight-run effort marked the Lions' lowest-scoring matchup of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Zak Hungle was a standout: he scored two runs while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Sean Dromgool, who scored a run and stole a base while getting on base in all five of his plate appearances.

Inspiration Academy kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now hit at least eight hits in seven consecutive games dating back to last season.

Inspiration Academy pushed their record up to 5-0 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs over those games. As for IMG Academy Royal, they now have a winning record of 3-2.

IMG Academy Royal suffered a grim 8-2 defeat to Inspiration Academy when the teams last played on Thursday. Can IMG Academy Royal avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.