Baseball Game Preview: St. John Paul II Falcons vs. Huntsville Panthers

The St. John Paul II Falcons will face off against the Huntsville Panthers at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The last three games St. John Paul II has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

St. John Paul II fought the good fight in their extra-innings match against Lindsay Lane Christian Academy on Saturday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Lions by a score of 9-8. That's two games in a row now that the Falcons have lost by just one run.

Joey Ross and Andrew Lang did some serious damage despite the final result: Ross scored a run and stole a base while going 3-for-5, while Lang scored a run while going 3-for-3.

Meanwhile, Huntsville beat Sparkman 6-2 on Saturday.

Reece Thomas spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on five hits and racked up six Ks.

On the hitting side, Dylan Duster was excellent, scoring a run while going 1-for-3. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in RBI (three). Parker Hovis was another key player, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-3.

Huntsville has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests. That's provided a massive bump to their 15-16 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.6 runs on average over those games. As for St. John Paul II, they dropped their record down to 7-17 with the loss, which was their fifth straight on the road.