Baseball Game Preview: Columbus Explorers vs. Mater Lakes Academy Bears

The Columbus Explorers will take on the Mater Lakes Academy Bears at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Columbus 1.9, Mater Lakes Academy 4.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Columbus' pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They came out on top against Southridge by a score of 4-0. The victory continues a trend for the Explorers in their matchups with the Spartans: they've now won four in a row.

Michael Say

Batters Struck Out (Career)

03/14/25 vs Southridge	8
03/06/25 vs Gulliver Prep	7
02/18/25 @ Palmetto	7
02/28/25 @ West Boca Raton	6
03/13/24 vs Sunset	4

Michael Say tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out eight over 6.1 innings pitched. Those eight strikeouts gave him a new career-high.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Matthew Fernandez, who went 1-for-2 with one home run. Another player making a difference was Alec Cruz, who went 1-for-3 with one triple and one run.

Meanwhile, after soaring to 15 runs the game before, Mater Lakes Academy was a bit more limited in their contest on Monday. They fell just short of ABF Academy by a score of 4-2.

Mater Lakes Academy saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was ANTHONY VELAZQUEZ, who went 2-for-4 with one double and one RBI.

Mater Lakes Academy has also been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four matchups. That's put a noticeable dent in their 7-5-3 record this season. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. Columbus' win bumped their record up to 11-3.

Mater Lakes Academy's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Columbus hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .331. It's a different story for Mater Lakes Academy, though, as they've only averaged .237. Will they be able to contain Columbus' hitters? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other baseball content.