Baseball Recap: East Palestine Has No Trouble Against Leetonia

Bulldogs

Margin (Wins)

04/12/25 @ Chaney	18
04/04/25 @ Lowellville	12
04/22/25 vs David Anderson	10
04/16/25 vs Wellsville	10
04/01/25 @ Columbiana	10

East Palestine owes their pitching crew a big pat on the back after their performance on Wednesday. They blew past the Leetonia Bears 8-0. The Bulldogs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won eight matchups by six runs or more this season.

Cale Moraski made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out 14 over five innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going a perfect 3-for-3 with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one run. East Palestine is 8-1 when Moraski posts two or more stolen bases, but 3-6 otherwise.

In other batting news, East Palestine let Peyton Rutledge and Jaxson Robb run wild. Rutledge got on base in two of his three plate appearances with two stolen bases and one run, while Robb got on base in all three of his plate appearances with two runs and one stolen base. Those two stolen bases gave Rutledge a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Tommy Beatty, who went 1-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base.

The win made it two in a row for East Palestine and bumps their season record up to 11-7. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.0 runs over those games. As for Leetonia, they are on a five-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 5-9.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. East Palestine will head out to square off against Heartland Christian at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The Lions have struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed 10.53 runs per game on average), something the Bulldogs will no doubt try to take advantage of. As for Leetonia, they will challenge David Anderson at 5:00 p.m. on Monday.