Baseball Game Preview: Bell Creek Academy Panthers vs. Victory Christian Academy Storm

The Bell Creek Academy Panthers will challenge the Victory Christian Academy Storm at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Bell Creek Academy's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They blew past Boca Ciega 15-0. The high-scoring effort was just what the Panthers needed considering they were shutout in their previous game.

Andrew Golden was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out six over five innings pitched. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in earned runs (zero). He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-5.

Joseph Johnson

Hits (Career)

02/18/25 @ Boca Ciega	2
04/22/24 @ Cambridge Christian	1
04/17/24 vs Canterbury	1
04/08/24 vs Zephyrhills Christian Academy	1
03/01/24 vs Seven Rivers Christian	1

In other batting news, Bell Creek Academy let William Miller and Joseph Johnson loose on the outfield. Miller scored a run and stole two bases while going 2-for-4, while Johnson scored three runs while going 2-for-3. The dominant performance also gave Johnson a new career-high in hits (two). Another player making a difference was Nathan Benoit, who scored three runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Bell Creek Academy always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .649. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Boca Ciega only posted an OBP of .278.

Meanwhile, everything went Victory Christian Academy's way against Indian Rocks Christian on Monday as Victory Christian Academy made off with a 12-2 victory. The result was nothing new for the Storm, who have now won three contests by eight runs or more so far this season.

The team relied heavily on Collin Strickland, who scored three runs and stole four bases while going 3-for-5. Strickland is crushing it when it comes to stolen bases: he's stolen at least one every time he's taken the field this season. Aiden Flannery was another key player, going 2-for-3 with four RBI and one run.

Bell Creek Academy now has a winning record of 2-1. As for Victory Christian Academy, their win ended a four-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 3-1.