Baseball Game Preview: Mechanicsburg Wildcats vs. Central Dauphin Rams

The Mechanicsburg Wildcats will head out on the road to square off against the Central Dauphin Rams at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. The last three games Mechanicsburg has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

Mechanicsburg took a ten-run defeat the last time they faced off against Cumberland Valley, but this time they managed to keep it close and that made all the difference. The Wildcats had just enough and edged out the Eagles 3-2. Three seems to be a good number for the Wildcats as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Gino Coleman tossed a big game, striking out nine batters over 6.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits. He has been consistent: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in seven consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Nick Patrick, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two RBI.

Meanwhile, Central Dauphin came up short against Manheim Township on Friday and fell 4-1.

Central Dauphin saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jace Collins, who went 1-for-3 with one run.

Mechanicsburg has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games. As for Central Dauphin, their loss dropped their record down to 4-7.

Mechanicsburg suffered a grim 6-0 defeat to Central Dauphin in their previous matchup back in March of 2022. Can the Wildcats avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.