Baseball Game Preview: Lake Wales Highlanders vs. Mulberry Panthers

Lake Wales is 6-1 against Mulberry since March of 2015 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Thursday. The Highlanders will take on the Panthers at 7:00 p.m. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Lake Wales is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Lake Region, sneaking past 5-4. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Highlanders have posted against the Thunder since April 26, 2021.

Max Seidl

Batters Struck Out

04/15/25 vs Lake Region	8
04/08/25 vs Lake Region	3
04/01/25 vs Winter Haven	5
03/25/25 vs Mulberry	2
03/17/25 @ Owasso	2
+ 4 more games

Max Seidl tossed a big game, striking out eight batters over six innings while giving up just two earned runs off seven hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in February.

On the hitting side, Lake Wales' win was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Landon David, who scored a run while going 1-for-2. The dominant performance also gave David a new career-high in RBI (two). Levi Cutts was another, scoring two runs while going 2-for-4.

Meanwhile, Mulberry hadn't done well against Hardee recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. The Panthers came out on top against the Wildcats by a score of 4-1. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Panthers.

Gavin Stedman made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He struck out nine batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. He has been consistent : he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in seven consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-2 with one home run and two RBI.

Lake Wales' record is now 12-14. As for Mulberry, their record now sits at 19-7.

Lake Wales came up short against Mulberry when the teams last played back in March, falling 6-2. Can the Highlanders avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.