Baseball Game Preview: Poly Bears vs. Heritage Patriots

The Poly Bears will head out to take on the Heritage Patriots at 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday. The last three games Poly has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

On Friday, Poly had just enough and edged out Liberty 6-5. That's two games straight that the Bears have won by just one run.

Carter Athens

Batters Struck Out

04/10/26 vs Liberty	5
03/18/26 vs Arlington	0
03/11/26 @ Paloma Valley	2
02/25/26 @ Oak Hills	7

Carter Athens looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run over four innings pitched. What's more, he posted five strikeouts, the most he's had since back in February.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Michael Neri, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Gavin Malmberg was another key player, going 1-for-2 with three RBI and one run.

Poly was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .462. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.

Meanwhile, while it was Heritage who put the first runs on the board on Friday, it was Paloma Valley who put up more. The Patriots fell just short of the Wildcats by a score of 3-1. Having soared to a lofty 12 runs in the game before, the Patriots couldn't push the score so high this time.

Poly pushed their record up to 11-5 with the win, which was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Heritage, they have been struggling recently as they've lost eight of their last nine matchups. That's put a noticeable dent in their 5-10 record this season.

Poly couldn't quite get it done against Heritage in their previous meeting back in March of 2024 as they fell 7-4. Can the Bears avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.