The Brunswick Wildcats will square off against the Higbee Tigers at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Brunswick took a loss when they played away from home last Friday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. Everything went their way against South Shelby as they made off with a 12-2 victory. Considering the Wildcats have won seven contests by more than six runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Higbee). Their pitchers stepped up to hand Madison a 10-0 shutout on Thursday. The high-scoring effort was just what the Tigers needed considering they were shut out in their previous matchup.
Robert Smith made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, keeping things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out seven over 4.2 innings pitched. He also allowed no hits, which is notable because Higbee is 2-1 when he allows at most one hit, but 4-16-2 otherwise. Smith was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three runs, one stolen base, and one double. Those three runs gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Hunter Dougherty, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and two doubles. That's the most runs he has posted since back in April. The team also got some help courtesy of Danny Janssen, who went 3-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
Higbee always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .606. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Brunswick is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games. That's provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.0 runs over those games. As for Higbee, their victory was their first in the district, bumping their district record up to 1-2 and their overall record up to 6-17-2.
Everything went Brunswick's way against Higbee when the teams last played back in April, as Brunswick made off with a 10-0 win. Do the Wildcats have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Tigers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
