Varsity Baseball will attempt to end their two game losing streak in the fourth game of their five game road trip against the James River Rapids on April 18. Midlothian is a game removed from a walk-off 4-3 loss against the  St. Christopher Saints, after allowing the final two runs in the bottom of the fifth. James River, a team that has a record of 7-1, extended their five game winning streak on April 13, defeating the Manchester Lancers 12-2 in their first meeting with the Lancers this season.

The Trojans have taken a noticeable step back after earning six straight wins at the end of March. In their previous games against Deep Run and St. Christopher, Midlothian couldn’t create as many chances to get runners in scoring position; thus being heavily reliant on their bullpen to keep them in the game. From what Brad Chambers implied, it seems as if over the past two weeks he’s been focusing on strategies while having runners in scoring position.

“It was unacceptable the amount of points we left on the board during our losing streak,” Coach Brad Chambers said, “However, this team won’t dwell on that through an extended period. Against James River, I am confident that the adjustment we have made over the past two week will be good enough to beat the James River.”

This game will be the first of two meetings that the Rapids and Trojans will have against each other. Subsequent to losing 9-1 in the middle of April last season, Midlothian was then able to secure a 6-4 victory in their last game of the regular season; thus splitting their previous season series with James River. On top of that, James River in the 2022 spring season combined for 13 runs against Midlothian’s bullpen while having a run differential of +6.

“Our team this year believes that we are on a different level then James River in comparison to last year,” Assistant Coach Lee Coleman said. “The improved bullpen that we have this year could be able to seriously nullify the amount of runs the Rapids can have during the seven inning game.

As the pair of teams got older from one year to the next, the Rapids and Trojans have shown significant improvement from where both units were at this point last year. James River had a record of 5-2-1 in the first eight games of the 2022 season while having an overall record of 7-1 heading into the end of April this year. On the other hand, the Trojans started the first eight games with a record of 4-4 towards the middle of April last year while improving that to a record of 6-2-1 during the 2023 season. Because of this, both teams are heading into this game with the right to earn the number one seed in the dominion region.

“This is going to be our toughest test of the entire season heading into the playoffs,” Coach Brad Chambers. “As the coach, this will be my job in this meeting to truly gauge where this team is at mentally and physically as we close in on the last month of the regular season.”