Baseball Game Preview: Indian Lake Lakers vs. West Liberty-Salem Tigers

The Indian Lake Lakers will head out on the road to take on the West Liberty-Salem Tigers at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Indian Lake's pitching crew has only allowed 3.6 runs per game this season, so West Liberty-Salem's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Indian Lake fell victim to London and their airtight pitching crew on Friday. They lost 13-0 to the Red Raiders. The pitching woes were uncharacteristic for the Lakers, who until this match were averaging 3.63 runs allowed.

Meanwhile, West Liberty-Salem earned an 8-3 win over Catholic Central on Thursday. The Tigers haven't had any issues with the Irish recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive victory against them.

Jake Evans and Brodey Deam were major factors no matter where they played. On the mound, Evans struck out seven batters over 4.1 innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off four hits. Meanwhile, Deam pitched 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Evans has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in three consecutive appearances. At the plate, Evans went 1-for-2 with three RBI and one stolen base, while Deam went 2-for-3 with two runs, one triple, and one stolen base. Those three RBI gave Evans a new career-high.

In other batting news, Reese Oder and Isaiah Reames did most of the damage at the plate: Oder went 1-for-4 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run, while Reames went 2-for-4 with two runs and one stolen base. That's the most runs Reames has posted since back in April of 2024. Jeremiah Johnson also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.

West Liberty-Salem was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .385. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive games.

West Liberty-Salem's record now sits at 6-1. As for Indian Lake, their loss dropped their record down to 5-3.

Indian Lake came up short against West Liberty-Salem in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, falling 3-0. Can the Lakers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.