Baseball Preview: Mooresville Pioneers vs. New Palestine Dragons
The Mooresville Pioneers will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against the New Palestine Dragons at 11:00 a.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Mooresville: 3, New Palestine: 2.3) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Mooresville is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Monday. Everything went their way against Franklin Community as Mooresville made off with a 12-3 victory. Considering Mooresville has won ten contests by more than five runs this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.
Hogan Denny made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Denny has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in nine consecutive pitching appearances. Denny was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing two bases while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.
In other batting news, Kaleb Kestler was a standout: he scored three runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Deklan Thompson, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, New Palestine entered their tilt with Cathedral with seven consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with eight. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Fighting Irish on Monday and snuck past 6-5. Six seems to be a good number for New Palestine as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Like Mooresville, New Palestine also got a great game from a two-way player: Jacob Morris. He pitched 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Morris was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
Morris wasn't the only one making solid contact as five players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Wyatt Matheis, who scored a run while going 2-for-2.
Mooresville's victory bumped their record up to 30-3. As for New Palestine, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 25-5 record this season.
Saturday's game might come down to which pitcher can control the ball better. Mooresville has hit smart this season, having averaged an OBP of .435. However, it's not like New Palestine struggles in that department as they've averaged .434. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
