Baseball Game Preview: Pace Academy Knights vs. First Presbyterian Day Vikings

The Pace Academy Knights are taking a road trip to challenge the First Presbyterian Day Vikings at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Pace Academy will be strutting in after a victory while First Presbyterian Day will be coming in after a loss.

Pace Academy proved they can win big last Wednesday (they won by nine) and last Thursday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Westminster 5-4. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last five times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.

Pace Academy got a great performance from Charles Smith as he pitched five innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off seven hits. Smith has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one walk any time he's pitched this season.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Miles Mador, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two doubles and one triple. That's the most doubles he has posted since back in April of 2024. Caden Austin was another key player, scoring two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Meanwhile, First Presbyterian Day suffered their closest defeat since May 3, 2024 on Thursday. They fell just short of Gatewood by a score of 3-1. The Vikings have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Pace Academy's victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 2-5. As for First Presbyterian Day, their loss dropped their record down to 5-2.

Pace Academy came up short against First Presbyterian Day when the teams last played back in February of 2016, falling 5-2. Can Pace Academy avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.