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The Grace Christian Academy Cougars baseball team is continuing to make strides with new head coach Ryan Riles as they picked up their fifth win on the season on Thursday night as they defeated Westwood 12-1. Behind consistent pitching, smart base running and aggressive hitting, the Cougars were able to cruise to their fourth win in the past five games, pushing their record to 5-3 on the season. 

The Cougars offense got things started in the second inning as their discipline at the plate filled the bases as Landon Temples came up to bat. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Temples was hit by a pitch, scoring Hines Roberts for the first run of the game. After three consecutive walks pushed the game to a 4-0 lead, Keith Eidson blew the game open as he connected on a two RBI double, scoring Aiden Whittaker and Cade Wells as their lead mounted to 6-0. 

Not only did Eidson make his presence known at the plate, but he was also a dominant force on the mound on Thursday night. Eidson picked up the win as he pitched five innings, only allowing four hits and one run while striking out six batters. The Cougars defense was stellar all day, not commiting a single error. The defensive highlight of the night came in the third inning as left fielder Hayden Cohen came racing in on a shallow fly ball and made a diving catch to end the inning as the crowd rose to their feet. 

In their last five games, the Cougars are averaging 12.2 runs per game, while only giving up 1.4 runs per game as they are firing on all cylinders. The pitching ace duo of Aiden Whittaker and Keith Eidson has stifled opposing hitters as well as their improvement and cut down on team errors, something that Coach Riles has put an emphasis on this season. 

The Cougars will now prepare for a three game road trip next week as they are set to take on Fullington Academy, Munroe and Westwood before returning back home on Monday, March 20 as they will take on Crisp Academy at 4:00p.m.