Baseball Preview: Central Catholic Raiders vs. Oakmont Vikings
The Central Catholic Raiders will take on the Oakmont Vikings at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Central Catholic is coming into the game hot, having won their last seven games.
Central Catholic is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Oakdale a 3-0 shutout.
The result came thanks to Adrian Garcia's shutout, as he gave up just three hits and racked up seven Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive pitching appearances.
Meanwhile, Oakmont sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 4-3 win over Lincoln on Thursday.
Zayne Ball looked comfortable as he pitched an inning while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
On the hitting side, Oakmont saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Cooper Kunis, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Central Catholic's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 21-8. As for Oakmont, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 12 of their last 13 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 26-7 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Central Catholic has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Oakmont struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Central Catholic beat Oakmont 5-2 in their previous matchup back in June of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for Central Catholic since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
