Baseball Game Preview: Columbus Explorers vs. Coral Gables Cavaliers

Columbus has gone 9-1 against Coral Gables recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Columbus Explorers will head out to square off against the Coral Gables Cavaliers at 3:30 p.m. Columbus will be strutting in after a win while Coral Gables will be coming in after a defeat.

Columbus is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They never let Palmetto onto the board and left with a 10-0 victory on Tuesday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest win of the season.

Michael Say

Batters Struck Out (Career)

02/18/25 @ Palmetto	7
03/13/24 vs Sunset	4
03/07/24 vs Palmetto	3
02/23/24 @ Killian	3
04/04/24 vs Coral Springs	2

Columbus got a great performance from Michael Say as he didn't allow a single earned run and only a hit while striking out seven over five innings pitched. Those seven strikeouts gave Say a new career-high.

On the hitting side, Alec Cruz was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 2-for-2. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in hits (two). Jason Garcia was another key player, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.

Columbus always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .556. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive matchups.

Meanwhile, Coral Gables didn't have quite enough to beat Miami on Tuesday and fell 4-3. The loss was the Cavaliers' first of the season.

Miguel Castellanos was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out seven over 6.2 innings pitched.

At the plate, Alex Carmona and Julian Saveedra stepped up to the plate in a big way. Carmona got on base in all three of his plate appearances with two stolen bases, while Saveedra scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.

Columbus' victory bumped their record up to 3-1. As for Coral Gables, their loss was their first of the season and makes their record 1-1-1.

Columbus took their win against Coral Gables when the teams last played back in March of 2021 by a conclusive 10-0. Will Columbus repeat their success, or does Coral Gables have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.