Baseball Game Preview: Chapel Hill Tigers vs. East Chapel Hill Wildcats

The Chapel Hill Tigers will head out to challenge the East Chapel Hill Wildcats at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Chapel Hill's pitching crew has only allowed 3.8 runs per game this season, so East Chapel Hill's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Chapel Hill's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They didn't even let Hillside on the board, marking the Tigers' second-straight 8-0 shutout. The Tigers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven games by eight runs or more this season.

Tyler Oliaro and Jason Krieg made a splash no matter where they played. On the mound, Oliaro tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Krieg struck out six batters over two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and only one walk). At bat, Oliaro went 2-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double, while Krieg went 1-for-2 with one stolen base and one double. That's the most hits Oliaro has posted since back in March.

They weren't the only ones making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was James Staats, who went 2-for-3 with three runs, one stolen base, and one double. Another was David Campos, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with one triple and one run.

Meanwhile, Friday just wasn't the day for East Chapel Hill's offense. They lost 12-0 to Riverside-Durham on Friday. The Wildcats haven't had much luck with the Pirates recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.

Chapel Hill is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests. That's provided a massive bump to their 12-7 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games. As for East Chapel Hill, their loss dropped their record down to 6-12.

Chapel Hill was able to grind out a solid victory over East Chapel Hill when the teams last played back in May of 2024, winning 3-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Tigers since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.