The Pine Island Panthers are taking a road trip to challenge the Caledonia Warriors at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Pine Island 2.6, Caledonia 3.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Pine Island will head out to face Caledonia after giving up their first home loss of the season on Friday. The Panthers fell 5-2 to Cannon Falls. The Panthers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Meanwhile, Caledonia entered their tilt with Rushford-Peterson on Thursday with three consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with four. They blew past the Trojans 13-3. The result was nothing new for the Warriors, who have now won 11 contests by six runs or more so far this season.
Tyson Ginther made a splash no matter where he played. He struck out eight batters over six innings while giving up three earned runs off six hits. Ginther was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, four RBI, and one run. Those two stolen bases gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, Caledonia let Ben Stemper and Garrett Konz run wild. Stemper went 3-for-4 with three runs, one double, and one RBI, while Konz got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases and three runs. Those three runs gave Konz a new career-high. Reid Klug was another key player, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, one run, and one double.
Caledonia kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 14 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least nine hits in four consecutive matches.
Caledonia's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 16-5. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.3 runs over those games. As for Pine Island, their loss dropped their record down to 13-5.
Pine Island suffered a grim 6-0 defeat to Caledonia in their previous meeting back in April of 2023. Can the Panthers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
