Baseball Game Preview: Hopewell Valley Central Bulldogs vs. Pennington Red Hawks

The Hopewell Valley Central Bulldogs will square off against the Pennington Red Hawks at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

The home team had won the previous five meetings between Hopewell Valley Central and Ewing, and Hopewell Valley Central kept the tradition alive. The Bulldogs came out on top against the Blue Devils by a score of 8-4 on Thursday.

Ryan Ottobre

Runs Batted In (Career)

05/01/25 vs Ewing	3
04/30/25 @ Montgomery	1
04/16/25 @ Steinert	1
03/31/25 @ Trenton Central	1
03/28/25 @ North Hunterdon	1

Ryan Ottobre was incredible, going 2-for-3 with three RBI, two doubles, and one run. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Owen Lengle, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and two RBI.

Hopewell Valley Central hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Ewing struck out six times.

Meanwhile, Pennington had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.5 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Wednesday. They never let the Pirates get on the board and left with a 9-0 win. Considering the Red Hawks have won 11 games by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.

Hopewell Valley Central has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-7-1 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.2 runs over those games. As for Pennington, their win bumped their record up to 14-2.

Hopewell Valley Central skirted past Pennington 9-7 when the teams last played back in May of 2023. Do the Bulldogs have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Red Hawks turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.