Baseball Game Preview: Central Bears vs. Land O' Lakes Gators

Central is 0-8 against Land O' Lakes since April of 2017 but things could change on Tuesday. The Central Bears will take on the Land O' Lakes Gators in a tournament on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Central has six straight victories, Land O' Lakes has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Central proved they can win big on Friday (they won by 13) and on Monday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Bishop McLaughlin Catholic 5-4.

Korbin Baskind made a big impact no matter where he played. He struck out nine batters over seven innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off six hits (and only one walk). Baskind was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two runs and one triple. That triple was his first of the season.

In other batting news, Jayden Warren was excellent, scoring two runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Talyn Poole, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Meanwhile, Land O' Lakes didn't have quite enough to beat Mitchell on Friday and fell 5-4.

A.J. Romano was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out seven batters over 5.1 innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in March of 2024.

At the plate, Santi Busot was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring a run while going 2-for-4.

Central pushed their record up to 9-4 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to hits: they averaged an imposing nine hits in those games compared to only five in the others. As for Land O' Lakes, their loss dropped their record down to 5-7.

Central suffered a grim 12-1 defeat to Land O' Lakes in their previous meeting back in April of 2024. Will Central have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.