Baseball Game Preview: Middletown North Lions vs. Manalapan Braves

Middletown North and Manalapan are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2016, but likely not for long. The Lions will head out to square off against the Braves at 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Middletown North has struggled recently with four defeats in a row, while Manalapan will arrive with three straight victories.

Middletown North fought the good fight in their extra-innings contest against Howell on Monday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Rebels by a score of 8-7. The game snapped a strange streak: the last four times these teams have met, it?s been the away team that?s taken home the W.

Meanwhile, Manalapan narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Marlboro 4-2.

Manalapan got a great performance from Kevin Rusinak as he didn't allow a single earned run over six innings pitched.

At the plate, Manalapan's victory was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Cristian Ptasienski, who went 1-for-2 with one run and one RBI. That run marked the first that Ptasienski has scored this season. Robert DiStefano was another, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.

The win got Manalapan back to even at 4-4. As for Middletown North, their loss dropped their record down to 3-5.

Middletown North took their victory against Manalapan when the teams last played back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 12-1 score. Will the Lions repeat their success, or do the Braves have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.