Baseball Game Preview: Lake Central Indians vs. Merrillville Pirates

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Previous Games

05/25/24 - Neutral	10-0 W
04/02/24 - Home	21-1 W
04/02/24 - Away	18-0 W
04/05/23 - Home	11-1 W
04/04/23 - Away	15-0 W
+ 5 more games

Lake Central is a perfect 10-0 against Merrillville since April of 2019 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Tuesday. The Indians will challenge the Pirates at 4:30 p.m. Lake Central's pitching crew has only allowed three runs per game this season, so Merrillville's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Lake Central is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Indiana's top teams: Cathedral, who was ranked 19th at the time (Lake Central was ranked seventh). The Indians walked away with a 6-2 victory over the Fighting Irish on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Indians.

Zach Nicola spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on three hits and racked up nine Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Jake Figg, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one double. The team also got some help courtesy of Jacob Zimmerman, who went 2-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Merrillville can bid farewell to their eight-game losing streak thanks to their game on Wednesday. They came out on top against Michigan City by a score of 11-6.

Lake Central's win was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 19-4. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Merrillville, their win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-11 and their overall record up to 4-17.

Lake Central took their victory against Merrillville in their previous matchup back in May of 2024 by a conclusive 10-0 score. Will the Indians repeat their success, or do the Pirates have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.