The Villages Charter has been on the road for three straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will take on the Umatilla Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
On Wednesday, The Villages Charter came up short against Oak Hall and fell 12-9.
The Villages Charter got a good showing from Nathan Budill, who struck out six batters over 3.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits (and not a single walk). Budill has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Daniel Bitting and Torin Foley stepped up to the plate in a big way. Bitting scored two runs while going 2-for-3, while Foley scored two runs while going 3-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Hunter Anderson, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.
Even though they lost, The Villages Charter didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with ten strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Oak Hall only tossed four.
Meanwhile, Umatilla unfortunately witnessed the end of their eight-game winning streak on Tuesday. Their rough 8-1 defeat to The Villages Charter might stick with them for a while.
Umatilla saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Elliot Sande, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
The Villages Charter's loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 7-5. As for Umatilla, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 8-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. The Villages Charter has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Umatilla struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.9 per game. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
The Villages Charter took their win against Umatilla in their previous matchup on Tuesday by a conclusive 8-1. Will The Villages Charter repeat their success, or does Umatilla have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
