Baseball Preview: Castle Knights vs. Evansville Mater Dei Wildcats
Castle is 8-2 against Evansville Mater Dei since April of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Castle Knights will stay at home for another game and welcome the Evansville Mater Dei Wildcats at 5:00 p.m. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Tuesday, Castle faced Evansville North in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Castle's pitcher stepped up to hand Evansville North a 1-0 shutout. Despite the win, that was the fewest runs Castle has scored all year.
Castle's victory was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Will Coleman, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Coleman has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in three consecutive pitching appearances.
Meanwhile, Evansville Mater Dei has not done well against Evansville Central recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Evansville Mater Dei came out on top against Evansville Central by a score of 6-3.
Evansville Mater Dei let Nolan Schickel and Brayden Caldemeyer loose on the outfield. Schickel scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3, while Caldemeyer went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double.
Castle pushed their record up to 5-1 with that win, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Evansville Mater Dei, their victory bumped their record up to 4-2.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Castle has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Evansville Mater Dei struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Everything went Castle's way against Evansville Mater Dei in their previous matchup back in May of 2023 as Castle made off with a 10-0 win. Does Castle have another victory up their sleeve, or will Evansville Mater Dei turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
