Baseball Game Preview: Greater Latrobe Wildcats vs. Franklin Regional Panthers

The Greater Latrobe Wildcats will head out on the road to challenge the Franklin Regional Panthers at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Greater Latrobe will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak.

Last Monday, Greater Latrobe narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Kiski Area 6-4.

Meanwhile, Franklin Regional got themselves on the board against Kiski Area last Wednesday, but Kiski Area never followed suit. They were the clear victors by an 8-0 margin over the Cavaliers. The result was nothing new for the Panthers, who have now won three matchups by eight runs or more so far this season.

James Templeton tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out seven over five innings pitched. Those seven strikeouts gave him a new career-high.

On the hitting side, Chase Lemke was incredible, going 2-for-4 with one triple, one stolen base, and two RBI. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was NJ Ramchandran, who scored two runs while going 2-for-2.

Franklin Regional hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. The team has now struck out at least two batters in four consecutive contests.

Greater Latrobe pushed their record up to 7-3 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games. As for Franklin Regional, their record is now 7-1.

Greater Latrobe skirted past Franklin Regional 4-3 in their previous meeting back in April of 2022. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Wildcats since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.