Caroline is on a five-game streak of home losses, and James Monroe a six-game streak of away losses. However, someone's due for a change in luck on Thursday. The Caroline Cavaliers will look to defend their home field against the James Monroe Yellow Jackets at 6:00 p.m. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
On Wednesday, Caroline didn't have quite enough to beat Mechanicsville and fell 4-3.
Caroline saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Alex Thomas, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and one run.
Courtland hit James Monroe with a five-run fifth inning on Tuesday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Yellow Jackets fell 8-5 to the Cougars.
Thomas Castellarin was huge no matter where he played even without the win. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 11 batters over 4.2 innings while giving up three earned (and two unearned) runs off five hits. Castellarin was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI. That double marked the first that he has hit this season.
In other batting news, Jordan Hardison was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double. He has become a key player for James Monroe: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 0-10 otherwise. Hunter Hicks was another key player, earning two runs and one stolen base.
James Monroe's defeat dropped their record down to 3-11. As for Caroline, their loss dropped their record down to 4-12.
Caroline got the 'W' when the teams last played back in April against James Monroe by a conclusive 22-3 score. Will the Cavaliers repeat their success, or do the Yellow Jackets have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
