Baseball Game Preview: Longwood Panthers vs. Bremen Braves

The Longwood Panthers will head out on the road to square off against the Bremen Braves at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Longwood can't be too happy about their upcoming road contest considering what happened when they opened their season away from home two weeks ago. They lost 7-0 to Agricultural Science.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Bremen). They put the hurt on Thornton Fractional North with a sharp 22-1 victory on Monday. With that win, the Braves brought their scoring average up to 6.9 runs per game.

Ashton Cardinal was a major factor no matter where he played. He tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Bremen is undefeated when Cardinal allows two or fewer hits, but 4-7 otherwise. Cardinal was also stellar in the batter's box, going a perfect 4-for-4 with one home run, six RBI, and two runs. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in April of 2024.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Jose Hernandez, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-3. He is becoming a predictor of Bremen's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 2-1 (and 5-6 when he doesn't). Cristian Zarate was another key player, scoring three runs while going 1-for-2.

Bremen kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 13 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 4.7 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 matchups they've averaged 13.