Richland is 1-6 against Lawrence County since April of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Richland Rangers will be playing at home against the Lawrence County Cougars at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Richland came tearing into Tuesday's contest with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.4 runs) and they left with even more momentum. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Tigers a 10-0 shutout.
Ethan Keen made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and only one hit while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Keen has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up a single walk in five consecutive pitching appearances. Keen was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with a home run and two RBI.
In other batting news, Richland let Jaden Williams and Jessie Perkins loose on the outfield. Williams scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-2, while Perkins scored three runs and stole four bases while going 1-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Christopher Bobbitt, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Lawrence County made easy work of Raymond on Tuesday and carried off a 15-3 win.
Lawrence County got a massive performance out of Fred Harris, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-3. Another player making a difference was Grey Boyd, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3.
Richland is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season. As for Lawrence County, they now have a winning record of 5-4-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Richland has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.4 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Lawrence County struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.6 per game. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Richland might still be hurting after the 12-1 loss they got from Lawrence County in their previous matchup back in March of 2019. Thankfully for Richland, Hunter Daley (who didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits over four innings pitched) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
