Baseball Game Preview: Philip Barbour Colts vs. Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights

The Philip Barbour Colts will face off against the Wheeling Central Catholic Maroon Knights at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Philip Barbour 3.8, Wheeling Central Catholic 2) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Philip Barbour is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They won by a run and slipped past Logan 6-5. Winning may never get old, but the Colts sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.

Kale Wolfe made a splash while hitting and pitching. He tossed five innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits. Wolfe was also solid in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with two runs. That's the most hits he has posted since back in April.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Landyn Carpenter, who went 2-for-3 with three runs, one double, and one RBI. That's the most runs he has posted since back in April.

Meanwhile, Wheeling Central Catholic never let their opponents score on Thursday. They put the hurt on Wyoming East with a sharp 10-0 victory. The Maroon Knights might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 13 matchups by six runs or more this season.

Wheeling Central Catholic also got a great performance from Brayden Cover as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out 14 over six innings pitched. Cover has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one hit in three consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Gary Hatfield and Luke Tiu did most of the damage at the plate: Hatfield went 2-for-4 with two triples, one run, and one RBI, while Tiu went 1-for-3 with one home run. Those triples marked the first that Hatfield has hit this season. Zayne Rosnick was another key player, going 2-for-4 with three runs and one stolen base.

Wheeling Central Catholic has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten games. That's provided a nice bump to their 17-3 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.4 runs on average over those games. As for Philip Barbour, their record is now 23-6.