Baseball Game Preview: Bartlett Panthers vs. Brighton Cardinals

A feisty cat fight will be fought as Bartlett Panthers challenge Brighton Cardinals at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.

On Wednesday, Bartlett made easy work of Dyer County and carried off an 11-1 victory. The Panthers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three contests by seven runs or more this season.

Meanwhile, Brighton never let their opponents score on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Halls as Brighton made off with a 13-0 win. With that victory, the Cardinals brought their scoring average up to 7.5 runs per game.

Brenden Killinger made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out nine over 4.2 innings pitched. Killinger was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4. He also put up a double, which was his first of the season.

In other batting news, Brighton let Brady Ray and Garrett Glass run wild. Ray went a perfect 3-for-3 with five RBI, two doubles, and one run, while Glass scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-2. The dominant performance gave Ray a new career-high in RBI. Caiden Gaines was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.

Brighton always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .618. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Halls only posted an OBP of .118.

Bartlett's win bumped their record up to 6-2. As for Brighton, the victory got them back to even at 2-2.

Bartlett came out on top in a nail-biter against Brighton in their previous matchup back in March of 2024, sneaking past 7-6. Will Bartlett repeat their success, or does Brighton have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.