Baseball Recap: Catholic Central Takes a Loss

Catholic Central extended their losing streak to five on Thursday, dropping their season record down to 3-5 in the process. They took an 8-3 hit to the loss column at the hands of the West Liberty-Salem Tigers. If the Irish were looking for revenge after losing 16-2 to the Tigers when the teams met back in April of 2024, then they'll just have to keep looking.

Catholic Central saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Brayden Strother, who went 1-for-2 with two stolen bases and one run.

As for West Liberty-Salem, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 6-1. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered a grand total of 4 runs in those games.

On West Liberty-Salem's side, Jake Evans and Brodey Deam made a big impact while hitting and pitching. Throwing, Evans struck out seven batters over 4.1 innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off four hits. Meanwhile, Deam pitched 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Evans has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in three consecutive appearances. At bat, Evans went 1-for-2 with three RBI and one stolen base, while Deam went 2-for-3 with two runs, one triple, and one stolen base. Those three RBI gave Evans a new career-high.

In other batting news, West Liberty-Salem let Reese Oder and Isaiah Reames run wild. Oder went 1-for-4 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run, while Reames went 2-for-4 with two runs and one stolen base. That's the most runs Reames has posted since back in April of 2024. Another player making a difference was Jeremiah Johnson, who went 1-for-3 with one run and one double.

Looking ahead, Catholic Central will head out on the road to challenge Greeneview at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. As for West Liberty-Salem, they will take on Indian Lake at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.