Baseball Preview: Gretna East Griffins vs. Blair Bears
The Gretna East Griffins will head out to face off against the Blair Bears at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Gretna East's pitching crew has only allowed 3.4 runs per game this season, so Blair's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Gretna East is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nebraska's top teams: Skutt Catholic, who was ranked fourth at the time (Gretna East was ranked 20th). The Griffins fell just short of the SkyHawks by a score of 3-2 on Tuesday.

Chase Neneman
04/22/25 @ Skutt Catholic | 1 |
04/12/25 vs Bellevue West | 1 |
04/07/25 vs Bellevue West | 0 |
03/29/25 @ Elkhorn | 1 |
Chase Neneman was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits (and only one walk). He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one walk in four consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Gretna East saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Tanner Erdkamp, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI. Nolan Iverson also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.
Meanwhile, Blair fell victim to Gretna and their airtight pitching crew on Tuesday. They came up short against the Dragons, falling 10-0. The Bears haven't had much luck with the Dragons recently, as the team has come up short the last four times they've met.
Gretna East's loss dropped their record down to 9-8. As for Blair, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-14.
Blair's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Friday. Gretna East has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Blair, though, as they've been averaging an even more impressive 3.8 strikeouts. Will Gretna East keep running through batters, or will the Bears buck the trend?
Gretna East beat Blair 7-4 when the teams last played last Thursday. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Griffins since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps