Baseball Game Preview: Pearl Pirates vs. Petal Panthers

The Pearl Pirates will face off against the Petal Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Pearl will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each match than the last.

Having struggled with four losses in a row, Pearl turned things around against Columbia on Saturday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past the Wildcats 6-4. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Pirates have posted since February 18th.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Petal). Everything went their way against Meridian on Friday as they made off with a 20-1 win. The Panthers have beaten the Wildcats the last five times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Wildcats has come to flipping the script.

Kaleb Dillon looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. What's more, he posted five strikeouts, the most he's had since back in February.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Easton Giger, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with seven RBI, four runs, and two doubles. Those seven RBI gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Tanner Beliveau, who went 2-for-4 with one home run and five RBI.

Petal always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .733. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Petal's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-5. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.0 runs over those games. As for Pearl, their victory bumped their record up to 5-12.

Pearl beat Petal 5-2 when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Will the Pirates repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.