The Niles Notre Dame Dons will venture away from home to challenge the Von Steuben Panthers at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Niles Notre Dame is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. Everything went their way against Marian Catholic on Saturday as they made off with a 19-4 victory. The team's explosion at the plate also rewarded the Dons with their most commanding win of the season.
Max Santana was incredible, going 2-for-3 with one home run, three runs, and four RBI. Those four RBI gave him a new career-high. Nico Imperatrice also deserves some recognition as he scored his first runs of the season.
Niles Notre Dame always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .721. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, Von Steuben waltzed into their contest on Thursday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They blew past the Mustangs 13-4.
Axel Rivera and Wade Miley made a big impact no matter where they played. Throwing, Rivera struck out nine batters over four innings while giving up three earned runs off four hits. Meanwhile, Miley pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Von Steuben is 8-1 when Miley allows one or fewer hits, but 10-12-3 otherwise. At the plate, Rivera got on base in four of his five plate appearances with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI, while Miley went a perfect 1-for-1 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
In other pitching news, Romeo Ruiz looked comfortable as he tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. He is becoming a predictor of Von Steuben's success: when he allows at most one hit the team is 7-1 (and 11-12-3 when he doesn't).
Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Matteo Banuelos, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs. He has become a key player for Von Steuben: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 11-13-3 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Luke Johnston, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI and one run.
Von Steuben's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-13-3. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.7 runs on average over those games. As for Niles Notre Dame, their record now sits at 10-18-1.
