Baseball Game Preview: Kennedy Memorial Mustangs vs. South River Rams

The Kennedy Memorial Mustangs will square off against the South River Rams at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Kennedy Memorial 3.1, South River 3.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Kennedy Memorial's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They walked away with a 3-0 win over Carteret.

Not much got past Grant Lorentzen, who gave up just three hits and racked up 11 Ks to keep Carteret off the board. Lorentzen has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in six consecutive appearances.

At the plate, Kennedy Memorial's victory was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Myles Ulaky, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two RBI. That's the most hits Ulaky has posted since back in March. Michael Rosales was another, getting on base in two of his three plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base.

North Plainfield hit South River with a four-run first inning on Monday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Rams fell just short of the Canucks by a score of 4-3.

Kennedy Memorial has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for South River, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-4.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Kennedy Memorial has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like South River struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.

Kennedy Memorial came up short against South River in their previous matchup back in May of 2024, falling 4-0. Can the Mustangs avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.