Baseball Game Preview: Mathews Mustangs vs. Mineral Ridge Rams

The Mathews Mustangs will take on the Mineral Ridge Rams at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Mathews has struggled recently with five losses in a row, while Mineral Ridge will arrive with seven straight wins.

Mathews fell victim to Maplewood and their airtight pitching crew on Wednesday. They took a 5-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Rockets. The game marked the first time this season in which the Mustangs were not able to get on the board.

Meanwhile, Mineral Ridge made easy work of Waterloo on Wednesday and carried off a 9-2 victory. Considering the Rams have won five matches by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.

Xavier Klamer made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out 13 batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April of 2024. He was also big at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two stolen bases, three RBI, and one run.

In other batting news, Jack Gillie and AJ Sandy did most of the damage at the plate: Gillie got on base in three of his five plate appearances with two stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI, while Sandy went 3-for-5 with three stolen bases and two runs. Those three hits gave Sandy a new career-high. Gavin Harding was another key player, going 2-for-5 with three stolen bases and two runs.

Mineral Ridge was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .382. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Waterloo only posted a batting average of .154.

Mineral Ridge pushed their record up to 11-2 with the win, which was their sixth straight on the road. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.2 runs on average over those games. As for Mathews, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-9.

Mathews took their win against Mineral Ridge in their previous meeting back in April of 2023 by a conclusive 11-1 score. Will the Mustangs repeat their success, or do the Rams have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.