Baseball Game Preview: Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers vs. Shaler Area Titans

The Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers will face off against the Shaler Area Titans on Monday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a six-game winning streak alive.

Lampeter-Strasburg is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They walked away with a 9-6 victory over Pine-Richland.

Cooper Hillen made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he tossed 3.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with one triple and two RBI.

In other batting news, Chase Messinger and Gavin Tipping did most of the damage at the plate: Messinger went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, three runs, and one RBI, while Tipping went 1-for-2 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. That's the most runs Messinger has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was James Wall, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and one run.

Lampeter-Strasburg kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in three consecutive matchups.

Meanwhile, Shaler Area faced Bethel Park in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Titans came out on top against the Black Hawks by a score of 6-3.

Lampeter-Strasburg's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 22-6. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Shaler Area, their win bumped their record up to 18-6.

Lampeter-Strasburg was able to grind out a solid victory over Shaler Area in their previous matchup back in June of 2019, winning 5-1. Will the Pioneers repeat their success, or do the Titans have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.