The Maple River Eagles will look to take advantage of their home field for the first time this season as they take on the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Maple River will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak dating back to last season.
Maple River's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They walked away with a 3-0 win over Le Sueur-Henderson.
Not much got past Gavin Halvorson, who gave up just three hits and racked up 15 Ks to keep Le Sueur-Henderson off the board. Halvorson has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run any time he's pitched this season.
At the plate, Jackson Vait was excellent, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Valley Lutheran got the win against Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Tuesday by a conclusive 9-3. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Chargers.
Kyan Kube and Kaden Peterson made a splash while hitting and pitching. Throwing, Kube pitched three innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Meanwhile, Peterson struck out eight batters over four innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits. Those eight strikeouts gave him a new career-high. At the plate, Kube scored a run and stole two bases while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances, while Peterson scored a run while going 1-for-4.
In other batting news, Minnesota Valley Lutheran let Brennan Bendix and Connor Bode run wild. Bendix scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-3, while Bode scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. That's the most runs Bode has posted since back in April of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Joshua Vander Plas, who went 2-for-4 with four RBI.
Maple River's victory was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-0. Those road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.5 runs over those games. As for Minnesota Valley Lutheran, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Thursday as neither team is afraid to steal. Maple River has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.3 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Minnesota Valley Lutheran struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.3 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Maple River skirted past Minnesota Valley Lutheran 2-0 when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Do the Eagles have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Chargers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
