Stockdale and Liberty are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2022, but likely not for long. The Stockdale Mustangs will head out on the road to face off against the Liberty Patriots at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Stockdale comes in on four and Liberty on 14.
Stockdale is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They came out on top against Central by a score of 6-2.
Bowen Salyards spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on six hits and racked up six Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in nine consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Hayden Elchlepp, who scored two runs while going 3-for-3. Another player making a difference was Logan Goodspeed, who went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Liberty sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over Tulare Western on Tuesday.
Liberty also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and he was also dialed-in: Evan Churchman gave up only one earned (and one unearned) run on five hits.
At the plate, Davis Goodwin was excellent, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double. Brock Thompson was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.
Stockdale pushed their record up to 18-11 with that win, which was their fourth straight at home. As for Liberty, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 16 of their last 17 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 26-4 record this season.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Stockdale hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.5 home runs per game. However, it's not like Liberty struggles in that department as they've been averaging 1.2. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Stockdale couldn't quite finish off Liberty in their previous matchup back in April and fell 3-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Liberty's Chance Gerecke, who didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out eight over 6.2 innings pitched. Now that Stockdale 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
