| 05/12/25 - Away | 5-1 W |
| 05/09/24 - Away | 2-0 W |
| 05/09/24 - Home | 11-14 L |
| 05/02/23 - Home | 29-0 W |
| 05/23/22 - Home | 28-1 W |
| + 5 more games |
Pine City is 8-2 against East Central since April of 2017 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Thursday. The Dragons will challenge the Eagles at 4:30 p.m. Pine City has given up an average of 9.1 runs per game this season, but Thursday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.
Aitkin hit Pine City with a seven-run fifth inning on Tuesday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Dragons lost 16-4 to the Gobblers. The Dragons have struggled against the Gobblers recently, as the game was their ninth consecutive lost meeting.
Meanwhile, East Central had to endure a three-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with an 11-10 win over McGregor on Wednesday.
Oliver Carlin made a splash while hitting and pitching. He pitched 1.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. East Central is 2-1 when Carlin allows one or fewer hits, but 3-8 otherwise. Carlin was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with three stolen bases and two runs. Those three stolen bases gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, East Central got a massive performance out of Shaw Youngberg, who went 2-for-3 with three stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI. Those three runs gave Youngberg a new career-high. Cale Jensen was another key player, going 3-for-4 with four RBI and one double.
East Central was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .412. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.
Pine City's loss dropped their record down to 4-11. As for East Central, their record now sits at 5-9.
Pine City was able to grind out a solid victory over East Central in their previous matchup on Monday, winning 5-1. Will the Dragons repeat their success, or do the Eagles have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
