Baseball Preview: Zionsville Eagles vs. Center Grove Trojans
The Zionsville Eagles will be playing at home against the Center Grove Trojans at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Zionsville: 3.9, Center Grove: 3.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Zionsville is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Indiana's top teams: Guerin Catholic, who was ranked 15th in their home state at the time (Zionsville was ranked seventh). Zionsville took a 7-2 hit to the loss column at the hands of Guerin Catholic on Friday. Zionsville's defeat signaled the end of their four-game winning streak.
Zionsville saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Josh Girvan, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Meanwhile, Center Grove put the finishing touches on their ninth blowout victory of the season on Thursday. They never let Southport onto the board and left with a 13-0 victory. Winning may never get old, but Center Grove sure is getting used to it with their eighth in a row.
Cal Schembra was incredible, scoring three runs while going 3-for-3. The team also got some help courtesy of Gannon Grant, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Zionsville's loss ended a five-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 17-7. As for Center Grove, they pushed their record up to 20-1 with that win, which was their 15th straight at home dating back to last season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Zionsville has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Center Grove struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Zionsville was able to grind out a solid victory over Center Grove when the teams last played back in May of 2023, winning 4-1. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Center Grove's Jacob Murphy, who struck out eight batters over 6.2 innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits. Now that he won't be playing on Monday, will it be that much easier for Zionsville to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
