The St. Pauls Bulldogs will square off against the SouthWest Edgecombe Cougars on Friday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
St. Pauls is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They won by a run and slipped past West Bladen 5-4. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Bulldogs as it put an end to their three-game losing streak.
Jaden Parker
| 02/25/25 vs South View | 6 |
| 04/15/25 @ Clinton | 3 |
| 04/08/25 vs Fairmont | 3 |
| 03/28/25 @ West Bladen | 3 |
| 03/25/25 vs West Bladen | 2 |
| + 3 more games |
Jaden Parker was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing 5.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and three unearned) runs off four hits. St. Pauls is 5-1 when Parker allows one or fewer earned runs, but 5-12 otherwise. Parker was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with two RBI, one run, and one double.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Tyler Lavoie, who went 2-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, it may have taken nine innings to finish the job, but SouthWest Edgecombe ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They beat Holmes by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 7-6. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Cougars.
Like St. Pauls, SouthWest Edgecombe also got a great game from a two-way player: Parker Gay. On the mound, he struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Gay has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with two doubles and one RBI. Those two doubles gave him a new career-high.
Gay wasn't the only one making solid contact as two players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Chase Taylor, who got on base in three of his five plate appearances with two runs. Tyler Mears also deserves some recognition as he scored his first run of the season.
SouthWest Edgecombe pushed their record up to 15-7 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of one runs across that stretch. As for St. Pauls, their win bumped their record up to 10-13.
