Baseball Preview: NorthWood Panthers vs. Warsaw Tigers
The NorthWood Panthers have the luxury of staying home for another game and will welcome the Warsaw Tigers at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
NorthWood will head into Tuesday's contest hoping to keep the good times rolling: they only won by two when they last took the field, which might have inspired the six-run they dealt Bethany Christian on Tuesday. NorthWood was the clear victor by an 8-2 margin over Bethany Christian.
Drew Rains made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Rains was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-1 with a triple, two RBI, and a run.
In other batting news, Nate Dutkowski was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing three bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Connor Reed, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Warsaw came tearing into Monday's matchup with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3.4 runs) and they left with even more momentum. They put the hurt on the Pilgrims/Rockies with a sharp 14-4 victory. That's two games straight that Warsaw has won by exactly ten runs.
Reed Nelson tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and only one hit over 4.1 innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Khareus Miller was a standout: he scored two runs and stole three bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Wyatt Stapleton was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 1-for-2.
NorthWood's win bumped their record up to 12-8. As for Warsaw, they are on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 13 games, which provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Wednesday as neither team is afraid to steal. NorthWood has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.9 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Warsaw struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.2. The only question left is which team can snag more.
NorthWood came out on top in a nail-biter against Warsaw in their previous meeting back in April, sneaking past 4-2. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Nelson, who pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will NorthWood still be able to contain Nelson? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
