Baseball Game Preview: Nazareth Area Blue Eagles vs. Pocono Mountain West Panthers

The Nazareth Area Blue Eagles will challenge the Pocono Mountain West Panthers at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Nazareth Area has three straight wins, Pocono Mountain West has seven straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

On Saturday, Nazareth Area needed a bit of extra time to put away Bangor. They won by a run and slipped past the Slaters 10-9.

Logan Vakiener looked comfortable as he struck out six batters over four innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits (and only one walk). Those six strikeouts gave him a new career-high.

Ryan Petruska

Runs (Career)

04/19/25 vs Bangor	2
04/17/25 @ Pleasant Valley	1
04/10/25 vs Northampton	1
04/01/25 vs Delaware Valley	1
03/28/25 @ Bethlehem Catholic	1

On the hitting side, Ryan Petruska was incredible, going a perfect 1-for-1 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. Those two runs gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Caden Mills, who went 3-for-5 with two runs, one double, and one RBI.

Pocono Mountain West couldn't beat West Scranton on Thursday even though they stacked eight runs on them in the sixth inning. The Panthers took a 13-10 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Invaders.

Pocono Mountain West's defeat dropped their record down to 2-9. As for Nazareth Area, their victory bumped their record up to 9-4.

Nazareth Area took their win against Pocono Mountain West when the teams last played back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 15-4 score. Will the Blue Eagles repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.