Baseball Preview: New Palestine Dragons vs. Cathedral Fighting Irish
New Palestine and Cathedral are an even 5-5 against one another since April of 2017, but likely not for long. The New Palestine Dragons are on the road again on Saturday to play the Cathedral Fighting Irish at 3:00 p.m. The pair have allowed few runs on average, (New Palestine: 2.2, Cathedral: 3.4) so any runs scored will be well earned.
New Palestine is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Monday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Greenfield-Central a 6-0 shutout. Considering New Palestine has won 16 games by more than five runs this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.
Not much got past Jacob Morris, who gave up just two hits to keep Greenfield-Central off the board.
At the plate, Wyatt Matheis and Ben Hirschy did most of the damage at the plate: Matheis scored a run while going 1-for-3, while Hirschy went 1-for-3 with a home run and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Gavin Neal, who went 2-for-2 with a stolen base and an RBI.
Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but Cathedral ultimately got the result they hoped for on Monday. They walked away with an 11-8 win over Lawrence North. Cathedral's victory was all the more impressive since Lawrence North was averaging only 3.16 runs allowed on the season.
Jackson Reeves looked comfortable as he tossed four innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Zander Carnahan was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 4-for-5. Chase Nickols was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 4-for-5.
New Palestine is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 24-5 record this season. As for Cathedral, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 16-11.
Both the two teams just can't seem to miss. New Palestine has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 8.8 hits per game. However, it's not like Cathedral struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 5. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
New Palestine skirted past Cathedral 4-2 in their previous meeting back in June of 2023. Does New Palestine have another victory up their sleeve, or will Cathedral turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
