Baseball Game Preview: Sacred Heart Academy Irish vs. Kalamazoo Central Maroon Giants

The Sacred Heart Academy Irish will take on the Kalamazoo Central Maroon Giants at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Sacred Heart Academy sitting on seven straight victories and Kalamazoo Central on six.

Kalamazoo Central's hitters are going to have their work cut out for them on Saturday: Sacred Heart Academy hadn't allowed a single run the last three times they've hit the field. The Irish's pitchers stepped up to hand Coleman an 11-0 shutout on Tuesday. Considering the Irish have won six contests by more than seven runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.

Meanwhile, Kalamazoo Central hadn't done well against Portage Central recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. The Maroon Giants walked away with an 11-6 win over the Mustangs.

Colin Hoenle was incredible, going 3-for-4 with three RBI, one triple, and one run. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Tro Fellings was another key player, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs, one double, and one RBI.

Kalamazoo Central pushed their record up to 8-6 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.2 runs over those games. As for Sacred Heart Academy, their victory bumped their record up to 7-1.

Sacred Heart Academy was able to grind out a solid win over Kalamazoo Central in their previous meeting back in April of 2024, winning 3-0. Do the Irish have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Maroon Giants turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.