Baseball Game Preview: Hartfield Academy Hawks vs. Cathedral Green Wave

The Hartfield Academy Hawks will challenge the Cathedral Green Wave at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Hartfield Academy 2.2, Cathedral 2.6) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Hartfield Academy is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Mississippi's top teams: Jackson Prep, who was ranked sixth at the time (Hartfield Academy was ranked 19th). Hartfield Academy was the clear victors by an 11-2 margin over Jackson Prep on Tuesday. Considering the Hawks have won 11 games by more than six runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.

JP Abt

Batters Struck Out (Career)

03/18/25 vs Jackson Prep	9
03/12/25 @ Harrison Central	8
03/03/25 vs Warren Central	3
03/01/25 vs Columbia Academy	3
03/19/24 vs Jackson Prep	2

JP Abt made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out nine batters over 5.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off one hit. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in strikeouts. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while getting on base in two of his five plate appearances.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Luke Humpherys, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3. Graham Jackson was another key player, scoring a run while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.

Meanwhile, after a string of seven wins dating back to last season, Cathedral's good fortune finally ran out on Monday. They lost 9-1 to Hartfield Academy. The match marked the Green Wave's lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

The victory (which was Hartfield Academy's third in a row) raised their record to 12-2. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Cathedral, their loss was their first of the season and makes their record 6-1.

Hartfield Academy took their win against Cathedral in their previous meeting on Monday by a conclusive 9-1. Will Hartfield Academy repeat their success, or does Cathedral have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.