Fort Walton Beach and Escambia are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2019, but likely not for long. The Fort Walton Beach Vikings will head out on the road to square off against the Escambia Gators at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Neither Fort Walton Beach nor Escambia posted many runs in their last games, so it might be the pitching crews that decide this one.
On Monday, Fort Walton Beach suffered a tough 9-2 defeat at the hands of South Walton. Fort Walton Beach has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Fort Walton Beach saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Hunter Kidd, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4. Kidd has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive pitching appearances.
Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for Escambia's offense. They wound up on the wrong side of a rough 10-0 walloping at the hands of Pensacola Catholic on Friday. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Escambia in their matchups with Pensacola Catholic: they've now lost five in a row.
Fort Walton Beach's defeat dropped their record down to 9-12. As for Escambia, their loss dropped their record down to 17-6.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Fort Walton Beach has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Escambia struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Fort Walton Beach came up short against Escambia in their previous meeting back in February, falling 3-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Escambia's Isaac Bates, who kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 12 over seven innings pitched. Now that Fort Walton Beach knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
