Baseball Game Preview: Mechanicsburg Wildcats vs. Twin Valley Raiders

Wildcats

Runs

03/27/25 @ Altoona	3
03/24/25 vs Cedar Cliff	5
03/21/25 vs Manheim Township	7
03/19/25 @ Dover	17

The Mechanicsburg Wildcats will venture away from home to challenge the Twin Valley Raiders at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Mechanicsburg is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 8 runs per game this season.

Last Thursday, Mechanicsburg didn't have quite enough to beat Altoona and fell 4-3. The Wildcats have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Eli Reider and Drake Dawson stepped up to the plate in a big way. Reider scored two runs while going 2-for-3, while Dawson went 1-for-2 with two RBI and one double. Those RBI were Dawson's first of the season. Another player making a difference was Jayden Matarrese, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one double.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Twin Valley). They put the hurt on Lancaster Catholic with a sharp 15-4 victory on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Raiders.

Kooper Zdimal made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits over four innings pitched. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in walks (zero). He was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI.

In other batting news, Ben Vaughan was a standout: he scored two runs and stole three bases while going 2-for-4. That's the most stolen bases he has posted since back in April of 2024. Luke Raines was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.

Twin Valley always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .522. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive matches.

Mechanicsburg's defeat dropped their record down to 2-2. As for Twin Valley, their record now sits at 3-1.

Mechanicsburg was able to grind out a solid win over Twin Valley in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, winning 5-0. Will Mechanicsburg repeat their success, or does Twin Valley has a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.