Baseball Preview: Grove City Eagles vs. Mercyhurst Prep Lakers
The Grove City Eagles will be playing in front of their home fans against the Mercyhurst Prep Lakers at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
Grove City is headed into the matchup fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They were the clear victor by an 18-7 margin over Franklin on Wednesday. The team's explosion at the plate also rewarded Grove City with their most commanding win of the season.
Bode Stevenson was a standout: he went 3-for-3 with three runs, four RBI, and a triple. Another player making a difference was Paul Gubba, who went 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs, and two RBI.
Meanwhile, Mercyhurst Prep put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They blew past Harbor Creek 9-2. The win made it back-to-back victories for Mercyhurst Prep.
Mercyhurst Prep also got a great performance from Brady Rice as he struck out six batters over 5.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Rice has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two hits in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Mercyhurst Prep let Evan Spagel and Zack Kruszewski loose on the outfield. Spagel scored three runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-3, while Kruszewski scored two runs and stole four bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Brady Coleman was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 3-for-4.
Grove City is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-6 record this season. As for Mercyhurst Prep, their victory bumped their record up to 13-3.
Both both teams just can't seem to miss. Grove City has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 10.4 hits per game. However, it's not like Mercyhurst Prep struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 4.5. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Grove City might still be hurting after the 10-0 loss they got from Mercyhurst Prep when the teams last played back in May of 2023. Thankfully for Grove City, Jake Manendo (who didn't allow a single earned run over five innings pitched) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
