Strykers suffer setback, chance at playoff dwindling

The Woodlands Strykers schedule is a brutal stretch of 60 games over a course of approximately 75 days, meaning they average six games in seven nights. It might be safe to say the Strykers have hit a wall over the last week, failing to secure a win against their opponents.

The Strykers currently sit at 6-15 in the second half of the season, and 16-35 overall for the summer.

The Strykers pitchers are fighting hard and have had some quality starts over the last seven days. Dusty Dworak faced the Acadiana Cane Cutters and pitched a strong seven innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out three in the no-decision. Braxton Markle also faced the Cane Cutters and went 6.1 innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out four. Jack Finnegan had a strong start to follow up his impressive previous week, going six innings and allowing two earned runs, striking out six in a no decision.

The Strykers hitters have been facing some quality pitching, and hits have been tough to find. Outfielder Garrett Lozano has managed to keep things going with a .280 average over the last seven days, including a six game hitting streak which is still on-going. Kevin Santana hit a homerun against the Cane Cutters on a night when he contributed four RBIs, giving him 31 for the season, which is tops for the league. His four home runs for the summer put him in a tie for second trailing Matthew Burke of the Victoria Generals and fellow teammate Greg Belton with five dingers a piece.

The Strykers play at home against the McKinney Marshals over the weekend, followed by their last road trip of the summer to the Acadiana Cane Cutters. They then conclude regular season play at home against the Victoria Generals, with playoffs to start soon after. The Strykers are not mathematically eliminated from post-season play as of today, but they will need to get hot in a hurry to jump over teams to get that coveted playoff spot.