Baseball Game Preview: Effingham County Rebels vs. Lakeside Panthers

The Effingham County Rebels are taking a road trip to take on the Lakeside Panthers at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Effingham County has four straight wins, Lakeside has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Effingham County barely beat Greenbrier the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. Everything went Effingham County's way against Greenbrier on Friday as Effingham County made off with an 8-2 victory. Considering the Rebels have won six games by more than five runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Wes Ward

Batters Struck Out (Career)

03/14/25 vs Greenbrier	7
02/25/25 @ Camden County	6
03/08/25 vs South Effingham	5
02/16/24 vs Perry	5
04/16/24 @ Lakeside	4

Wes Ward looked comfortable as he struck out seven batters over four innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in strikeouts.

At the plate, Newton Kieffer was incredible, scoring a run while going 2-for-3. What's more, he posted two doubles, the most he's had since back in March of 2024. Another player making a difference was Jacque'S King, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3.

Meanwhile, Lakeside came up short against Evans on Friday, falling 15-4.

Tobias Mahomes was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 3-for-3. Those runs marked the first that he scored this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Jude Matthews, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.

Effingham County's win was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 16-2. As for Lakeside, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-6.

Effingham County took their victory against Lakeside in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 10-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Effingham County since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.