The Mercer Mustangs are taking a road trip to take on the Sharpsville Blue Devils at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Mercer's usually-dominant pitching crew will be looking to make up for Thursday's struggle, when West Middlesex hitters got past them. The Mustangs blew past the Big Reds 18-11 on Thursday. The game snapped a strange streak: the last four times these teams have met, it?s been the away team that?s taken home the W.
Emma Stoepfel
| 04/24/25 vs West Middlesex | 4 |
| 03/27/25 @ Slippery Rock | 3 |
| 05/02/24 @ Reynolds | 3 |
| 04/09/24 vs Reynolds | 3 |
| 04/14/25 vs Wilmington | 2 |
Emma Stoepfel was a standout: she got on base in four of her five plate appearances with three stolen bases, four runs, and one triple. Those four runs gave her a new career-high. Bella Beers was another key player, going 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, three runs, and three RBI.
Mercer kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 15 hits. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as West Middlesex only managed ten hits.
Meanwhile, Sharpsville never let their opponents score on Thursday. Everything went their way against Reynolds as they made off with a 12-0 victory. The win continues a trend for the Blue Devils in their matchups with the Raiders: they've now won seven in a row.
Not much got past Jordan Brest, who gave up just four hits to keep Reynolds off the board.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Lily Palko, who went a perfect 5-for-5 with one home run, four runs, and four RBI. She is on a roll when it comes to home runs, as she's now launched at least one in each of the last four games she's played. Another player making a difference was Miah Applegarth, who went 1-for-4 with one home run and three RBI.
Mercer's record is now 7-3. As for Sharpsville, their record now sits at 7-4.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. Mercer hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.7 home runs per game. However, it's not like Sharpsville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 1.5 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Mercer beat Sharpsville 8-4 in their previous meeting on April 9th. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Mustangs since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
