Baseball Game Preview: Cedar Grove Panthers vs. Belleville Buccaneers

The Cedar Grove Panthers will take on the Belleville Buccaneers at 4:15 p.m. on Friday. Cedar Grove's pitching crew has only allowed 3.5 runs per game this season, so Belleville's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Belleville will be up against a hot Cedar Grove team: the squad just extended their winning streak to three. The Panthers never let Bloomfield get on the board and left with an 8-0 victory on Wednesday. Considering the Panthers have won four games by more than seven runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.

Meanwhile, Belleville came up short against Montclair Kimberley Academy on Wednesday, falling 8-2. The Buccaneers have struggled against the Cougars recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost meeting.

Cedar Grove's win was their seventh straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-3. The road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.3 runs over those games. As for Belleville, their loss dropped their record down to 4-7.

Cedar Grove came out on top in a nail-biter against Belleville in their previous meeting last Tuesday, sneaking past 7-5. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Buccaneers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.