Baseball Game Preview: Waterville Panthers vs. John Bapst Memorial Crusaders

The Waterville Panthers will challenge the John Bapst Memorial Crusaders at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Waterville will be strutting in after a victory while John Bapst Memorial will be coming in after a defeat.

Waterville took a loss when they played away from home on Wednesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Oceanside 4-2. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Panthers have posted against the Mariners since April 25, 2022.

Ben Foster spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on five hits and racked up nine Ks.

At the plate, Waterville's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Garrett Gendreau, who went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs. Another was Milo Taylor, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base and one run.

Meanwhile, John Bapst Memorial fought the good fight in their extra-innings matchup against Hermon on Saturday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Hawks by a score of 3-2. Having soared to a lofty 13 runs in the game before, the Crusaders couldn't push the score so high this time.

John Bapst Memorial's loss dropped their record down to 3-8. As for Waterville, their victory bumped their record up to 4-6.

Waterville suffered a grim 12-2 defeat to John Bapst Memorial in their previous meeting back in April. Will the Panthers have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other baseball content.