Baseball Preview: Conant Cougars vs. Wheeling Wildcats
After two games on the road, Conant is heading back home. They will take on the Wheeling Wildcats at 4:45 p.m. on Friday. Conant is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 8.5 runs per game this season.
Conant will bounce into Friday's matchup after beating Barrington, who they hadn't topped in nine consecutive meetings. Conant came out on top in a nail-biter against Barrington on Wednesday and snuck past 6-4.
Bryce Loeger made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over seven innings while giving up four earned runs off five hits. Loeger has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than seven strikeouts in six consecutive pitching appearances. Loeger was also big at the plate, going 1-for-2 with a home run.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Matthew Maize, who went 2-for-3 with a home run. Josh Barnett was another key contributor, scoring a run while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Wheeling was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their fourth straight loss. They fell just short of Hersey by a score of 5-4.
Tyler Zangara and Zach Neukirch did some serious damage despite the final result: Zangara went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI, while Neukirch scored a run while going 2-for-4.
Conant is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last ten matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-5 record this season. As for Wheeling, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-13.
Conant came out on top in a nail-biter against Wheeling in their previous matchup back in May of 2023, sneaking past 5-4. Will Conant repeat their success, or does Wheeling have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
