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The Rice Raiders matched up with the Edna Cowboys this week in back-to-back district games.
In the first game the Raiders were able to enjoy home field advantage before making the trip to Edna for game two.
Vs. Edna, L, 3-0
In the first game of this back-toback the Raiders offensive struggles continued to plague them. They went scoreless in this game and recorded only four hits in the contest.
That stat does not seem all that bad considering that Edna recorded five hits in the game. The kicker is that Edna was able to convert those hits into runs while the Raiders are still trying to find answers in that department.
Defensively the Raiders played a great game that was spearheaded by a stellar performance on the bump. Keenan Hailey pitched all seven innings for the Raiders and gave up three runs on five hits but only one was an earned run.
He walked only one batter while striking out nine batters to give his team their best chance of getting back into this game.
The Raiders lost a close one at home, so they were ready to get on the road and return the favor by beating Edna on their home field in the second game of this back-to-back.
The offensive struggles followed the Raiders to Edna and unfortunately the defense stumbled as well in this game. Pitching wise the Raiders recorded only four strikeouts in four innings which is not a bad pace at all.
The kicker was that the Raiders gave up 21 hits in the game that led to Edna scoring 13 runs.
Offensively the Raiders scored three runs and Adolfo Martinez hit a double and JJ Grounds hit a triple. It was a step in the right direction for the offense but this back-to-back has been a tale of two games.
One game the defense is there but the offense struggles, the next the offense is there but the defense is struggling. Once the Raiders figure out how to have strong and consistent games on both sides of the ball they will start to climb the standings.
The Raiders will be looking to improve on both sides of the ball this offseason then come back ready to hit the ground running in 2026.
