The Niles Notre Dame Dons will square off against the Stevenson Patriots at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
Having struggled with four losses in a row, Niles Notre Dame turned things around against Northridge on Wednesday. They put the hurt on the Knights with a sharp 13-5 win.
Anthony Baldassano looked comfortable as he tossed three innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs but no hits.
Tony Szwedo
| 04/23/25 vs Northridge | 2 |
| 04/19/25 @ Marist | 1 |
| 04/19/25 @ Marist | 1 |
| 04/16/25 @ St. Patrick | 1 |
| 04/11/25 @ Niles North | 1 |
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Tony Szwedo, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and one double. Those two runs gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of James Spellman, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs and one double.
Niles Notre Dame was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .375. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Stevenson waltzed into their game on Tuesday with two straight wins... but they left with three. Everything went their way against the Bulldogs as they made off with a 15-1 victory.
Stevenson got a massive performance out of Ryan Harris, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. The Patriots are undefeated when Harris posts two or more runs, but 6-10 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Matteo Nolasco, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.
The win got Stevenson back to even at 10-10. As for Niles Notre Dame, their victory bumped their record up to 8-6-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Niles Notre Dame has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Stevenson struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 7.1 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Niles Notre Dame beat Stevenson 7-4 when the teams last played back in March of 2023. Will the Dons repeat their success, or do the Patriots have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
