Baseball Game Preview: Canfield Cardinals vs. Lake Catholic Cougars

The Canfield Cardinals will square off against the Lake Catholic Cougars at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Canfield comes in on eight and Lake Catholic on seven.

Canfield is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Hubbard as they made off with a 10-2 win. The result was nothing new for the Cardinals, who have now won ten games by six runs or more so far this season.

Anthony Groner made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out six over 6.2 innings pitched. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on David Murphy, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI and one double. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in May of 2024. Another player making a difference was Dylan Mancini, who went 2-for-5 with two runs and one RBI.

Canfield kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 15 hits. That's the most hits they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, Lake Catholic owes their pitching crew a big pat on the back after their performance on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Girard 1-0. That's two games straight that the Cougars have won by just one run.

Not much got past Patrick Radigan, who gave up just a hit and racked up ten Ks to keep Girard off the board.

On the hitting side, Lake Catholic's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Caden Boyes, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base.

Canfield's victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 21-10. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.2 runs on average over those games. As for Lake Catholic, their record is now 23-4.