The Village Christian Academy Knights will face off against The O'Neal School Falcons at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Village Christian Academy is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 8.2 runs per game this season.
Village Christian Academy fell victim to Freedom Christian Academy and their airtight pitching crew on Friday. They lost 13-0 to the Patriots. While getting shut out isn't ideal, the Knights haven't been shut out since back in March.
Village Christian Academy saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Sam Zeisset, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one triple. That triple marked the first that Zeisset has hit this season.
Meanwhile, with a playoff win on the line, The O'Neal School rose to the challenge on Tuesday. They blew past the Eagles 18-4. Considering the Falcons have won five contests by more than five runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Parker Maxwell was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing four innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. The O'Neal School is undefeated when Maxwell allows one or fewer earned runs, but 2-8-1 otherwise. Maxwell was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases, three runs, and one RBI. Those two stolen bases gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, The O'Neal School got a massive performance out of Max Pashley, who went 1-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and one double. Those three RBI gave Pashley a new career-high. Kaiden Taveras was another key player, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBI.
The O'Neal School always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .600. They are a perfect 4-0 when they post an OBP of .513 or better.
The O'Neal School is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a massive bump to their 6-8-1 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.5 runs over those games. As for Village Christian Academy, their loss dropped their record down to 15-8.
The O'Neal School's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Village Christian Academy hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .324. It's a different story for The O'Neal School, though, as they've only averaged .245. Will they be able to contain Village Christian Academy's hitters?
Village Christian Academy skirted past The O'Neal School 9-7 in their previous matchup last Tuesday. Will the Knights repeat their success, or do the Falcons have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
