Baseball Preview: Hopewell-Loudon Chieftains vs. St. Mary Central Catholic Panthers
The Hopewell-Loudon Chieftains will head out on the road to take on the St. Mary Central Catholic Panthers at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Hopewell-Loudon sitting on five straight wins and St. Mary Central Catholic on six.
In what's become a running theme this season, Hopewell-Loudon gave their fans yet another huge victory on Wednesday. They were the clear victor by an 18-2 margin over St. Joseph Central Catholic.
Matt Wyman made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out six batters over four innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits (and only one walk). Wyman has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances. Wyman was also big at the plate, scoring a run while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Caine McDonald was incredible, going 4-for-4 with four RBI, two runs, and two doubles. Another player making a difference was Cohen Sendelbach, who went 1-for-4 with two runs, a triple, and a stolen base.
Meanwhile, St. Mary Central Catholic has not done well against Calvert recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. St. Mary Central Catholic came out on top in a nail-biter against Calvert and snuck past 4-2.
Reid Wikel spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on two hits.
Hopewell-Loudon has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 13 of their last 14 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 17-4 record this season. As for St. Mary Central Catholic, the win got them back to even at 11-11-1.
St. Mary Central Catholic's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Hopewell-Loudon hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .362. It's a different story for St. Mary Central Catholic, though, as they've only averaged .236. Will they be able to contain Hopewell-Loudon's hitters?
Everything went Hopewell-Loudon's way against St. Mary Central Catholic in their previous meeting back in April as Hopewell-Loudon made off with a 19-4 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hopewell-Loudon since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
