Baseball Game Preview: Lewis County Panthers vs. Loretto Mustangs

Lewis County hasn't had much luck against Loretto recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Panthers will welcome the Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.

While Lewis County's victory against Hampshire wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Panthers had just enough and edged out the Hawks 4-3 on Monday.

Lewis County's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Brayden Whitlow, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base and two RBI.

Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but Loretto ultimately got the result they hoped for on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Richland 3-2. The win was nothing new for the Mustangs as they're now sitting on three straight.

Casen Springer was excellent, going 3-for-4 with one triple, one stolen base, and one run. He is becoming a predictor of Loretto's success: when he posts at least three hits the team is 3-1 (and 8-13 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Jayden Aaron, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with one double.

Lewis County is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight games. That's provided a nice bump to their 14-13 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.9 runs over those games. As for Loretto, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-14.

Lewis County was able to grind out a solid victory over Loretto when the teams last played on April 8th, winning 6-1. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Mustangs turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.