Baseball Game Preview: Copley Indians vs. Perry Panthers

The Copley Indians will head out on the road to challenge the Perry Panthers at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Perry took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on Copley, who comes in off a win.

Copley will bounce into Saturday's game after beating Tallmadge, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. The Indians were the clear victors by a 17-1 margin over the Blue Devils on Thursday. The game was the first time the Indians have beaten the Blue Devils on their field since April 10, 2017.

AZ Patterson was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out six batters over 6.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits. Patterson was also big at the plate, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Jake Stitsinger, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, three RBI, and two doubles. Another player making a difference was Brody Petry, who went 3-for-5 with three stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI.

Copley always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .568. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

The scorekeeper got an easy start on Wednesday as neither Perry nor GlenOak made it on the board until the fifth inning. The Panthers fell just short of the Golden Eagles by a score of 4-3.

Copley is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-8 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.4 runs over those games. As for Perry, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-11.

Copley came up short against Perry when the teams last played back in April of 2024, falling 5-2. Can the Indians avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.