The Jefferson County Christian Royals will challenge the Malvern Hornets at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Jefferson County Christian has three straight wins, Malvern has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Jefferson County Christian will bounce into Thursday's match after beating Catholic Central, who they had gone 0-4 against in their four prior meetings. The Royals came out on top against the Crusaders by a score of 7-3 on Wednesday.
EJ Keener
| 05/07/25 vs Catholic Central | 14 |
| 04/15/25 vs Leetonia | 12 |
| 03/29/25 @ Southern | 11 |
| 04/08/25 @ Malvern | 9 |
| 04/22/25 vs Bridgeport | 6 |
EJ Keener made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 14 batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits. Those 14 strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs, one triple, and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Wyatt Hervey, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one run. He has become a key player for Jefferson County Christian: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two stolen bases, but 3-6 otherwise. Carl Bonecutter was another key player, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs.
Jefferson County Christian always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .571. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .559 or higher in three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Malvern fell victim to Strasburg-Franklin and their airtight pitching crew on Wednesday. They fell just short of the Tigers by a score of 1-0.
Jefferson County Christian pushed their record up to 13-6 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for Malvern, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-11.
Jefferson County Christian couldn't quite get it done against Malvern when the teams last played back in April as they fell 4-1. Will the Royals have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.
