The Bennington Badgers will venture away from home to face off against the Gross Catholic Cougars at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Bennington sitting on ten straight wins and Gross Catholic on seven.
Bennington is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nebraska's top teams: Waverly, who was ranked 22nd at the time (Bennington was ranked sixth). The Badgers were the clear victors by a 12-2 margin over the Vikings on Monday. Considering the Badgers' hitters had been struggling lately, the high-scoring outing was a much-needed turnaround.
Brandt Schmidt
| 04/07/25 vs Waverly | 9 |
| 03/31/25 @ Platteview | 8 |
| 03/24/25 vs Blair | 5 |
Brandt Schmidt spent all six innings played on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on three hits and racked up nine Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive appearances.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Carson Kortan, who went 2-for-4 with five RBI, one run, and one double. Jack Essink was another key player, scoring a run while going 1-for-2.
Bennington was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .400. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Waverly only posted a batting average of .174.
Meanwhile, Gross Catholic never let their opponents score on Saturday. They came out on top against Pius X by a score of 3-0.
Kayo Rempe tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run while striking out six over 6.2 innings pitched.
On the hitting side, Maddux Villamonte was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. The team also got some help courtesy of Robbie Brennan, who went 1-for-2 with one triple and one RBI.
Bennington's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-0. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Gross Catholic, their record is now 7-1.
Bennington was able to grind out a solid victory over Gross Catholic in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, winning 7-3. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Badgers since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
