Baseball Preview: Homestead Spartans vs. Fort Wayne Northrop Bruins
Homestead is 8-2 against Fort Wayne Northrop since May of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Saturday. The Homestead Spartans will take on the Fort Wayne Northrop Bruins at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Wednesday, Homestead narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past DeKalb 7-5. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Homestead.
Braylon Sheefel tossed a big game, striking out seven batters over 4.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits.
At the plate, Homestead got a big performance out of Caleb Bradford, who scored a run and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Cole Kintz was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, Fort Wayne Northrop put the finishing touches on their sixth blowout victory of the season on Friday. They never let Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian onto the board and left with a 15-0 victory.
Nolan Wilson made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over five innings pitched. Wilson was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with a home run and three RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Pernell Whitsett, who scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Jayden Sloniker, who scored two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Homestead's win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 8-6. As for Fort Wayne Northrop, their victory bumped their record up to 9-5.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Homestead has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Fort Wayne Northrop struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.9. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Homestead took their win against Fort Wayne Northrop when the teams last played back in May of 2023 by a conclusive 8-0. Will Homestead repeat their success, or does Fort Wayne Northrop have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
