Baseball Game Preview: Southport Cardinals vs. Columbus East Olympians

Southport and Columbus East are an even 3-3 against one another since May of 2015, but likely not for long. The Cardinals will take on the Olympians at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Southport is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.7 runs per game this season.

Southport let Greenwood stack five runs on them in the third inning on Saturday but luckily Southport prevailed anyway. The Cardinals came out on top against the Woodmen by a score of 10-5. Ten seems to be a good number for the Cardinals as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Riley Matlock

Runs (Career)

05/03/25 @ Greenwood	3
04/03/25 @ Beech Grove	2
04/20/24 vs Franklin Community	2
04/06/24 @ Pike	2
05/01/25 vs Warren Central	1

Southport let Riley Matlock and Nick Godsey run wild. Matlock went 2-for-4 with three runs and one double, while Godsey got on base in three of his five plate appearances with one run and one RBI. Those three runs gave Matlock a new career-high.

Meanwhile, Columbus East fought the good fight in their extra-innings contest against Bloomington South on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Panthers by a score of 2-1. The Olympians' loss continues a trend for the squad, making it four in a row.

Columbus East saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Eli Tindell, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base and one run.

Southport has been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.5 runs over those games. As for Columbus East, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-11.

Columbus East's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Southport has hit smart this season, having averaged an OBP of .437. It's a different story for Columbus East, though, as they've only averaged .351. Will they be able to contain Southport's hitters?

Southport came out on top in a nail-biter against Columbus East in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, sneaking past 6-4. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Cardinals since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.