Baseball Game Preview: Steilacoom Sentinels vs. Bellarmine Prep Lions

The Steilacoom Sentinels will venture away from home to take on the Bellarmine Prep Lions at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Steilacoom's pitching crew has only allowed four runs per game this season, so Bellarmine Prep's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

On Wednesday, Steilacoom got the win against Clover Park by a conclusive 9-2. Considering the Sentinels have won eight matchups by more than six runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.

Meanwhile, Bellarmine Prep hadn't done well against Timberline recently (they were 0-5 in their previous five matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Monday. The Lions walked away with a 7-2 win over the Blazers. With that victory, the Lions brought their scoring average up to 6.1 runs per game.

Joshua Morales looked comfortable as he struck out seven batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits (and not a single walk). He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Xavier Espindola, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI. He has become a key player for Bellarmine Prep: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 3-9 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Raiden Calcotte, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run.

Steilacoom is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 13 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 18-5 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.4 runs on average over those games. As for Bellarmine Prep, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 9-9.

Steilacoom beat Bellarmine Prep 4-0 when the teams last played back in March of 2024. Do the Sentinels have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Lions turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.