Baseball Game Preview: Ridgeland Panthers vs. Dade County Wolverines

Ridgeland is 8-2 against Dade County since March of 2015 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Tuesday. The Ridgeland Panthers will host the Dade County Wolverines at 5:30 p.m. Ridgeland's pitching crew has only allowed 3.5 runs per game this season, so Dade County's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Ridgeland will bounce into Tuesday's contest after beating Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, who they had gone 0-7 against in their seven prior meetings. Ridgeland's pitcher stepped up to hand Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe a 3-0 shutout on Monday. The game marked the Panthers' most dominant victory of the season so far.

Dallas Bilbrey

Batters Struck Out (Career)

02/24/25 vs Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe	7
02/18/25 vs Dade County	3
02/16/24 vs Dade County	3
04/11/24 vs Gordon Lee	2
02/22/25 @ Portal	1

The result came thanks to Dallas Bilbrey's shutout, as he gave up just three hits and racked up seven Ks. Those seven strikeouts gave him a new career-high.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Ronnie Franklin, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with one triple and one RBI. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in hits (three). Joey Hayes also deserves some recognition as he got his first hit of the season.

Meanwhile, after only one run in their last matchup, Dade County made sure to put some runs up on the board against Southeast Whitfield County on Friday. Dade County came out on top in a nail-biter against Southeast Whitfield County, sneaking past 14-13. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Wolverines' hitters, who had struggled in the games prior.

The win made it two in a row for Ridgeland and bumps their season record up to 3-1. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 runs over those games. As for Dade County, the victory got them back to even at 2-2.

Ridgeland skirted past Dade County 2-1 in their previous meeting on Tuesday. Does Ridgeland have another victory up their sleeve, or will Dade County turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.