Baseball Game Preview: Holy Cross Crusaders vs. Western Wayne Wildcats

The Holy Cross Crusaders will head out to challenge the Western Wayne Wildcats at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Holy Cross will be strutting in after a win while Western Wayne will be coming in after a loss.

Having struggled with eight defeats in a row, Holy Cross turned things around against Old Forge on Wednesday. They came out on top against the Blue Devils by a score of 7-3.

Kyle Cortazar spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and two unearned) runs on nine hits and racked up seven Ks.

Freddy Ceccacci

Runs

04/30/25 vs Old Forge	2
04/02/25 vs Lakeland	2
03/29/25 @ Berwick	2
03/17/25 vs Greater Nanticoke Area	2
04/25/25 @ Lakeland	1
+ 2 more games

At the plate, AJ Piestrak and Freddy Ceccacci did most of the damage at the plate: Piestrak got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two RBI and one run, while Ceccacci went 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. Ceccacci has become a key player for Holy Cross: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 1-10 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Matthew Fox, who went 1-for-2 with two runs.

Holy Cross hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Old Forge struck out seven times.

Meanwhile, Western Wayne was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They lost 10-2 to Mid Valley.

Jake Grodack was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one double. That double was his first of the season.

Holy Cross' record now sits at 5-10. As for Western Wayne, their defeat dropped their record down to an identical 5-10.

Holy Cross came up short against Western Wayne when the teams last played back in April, falling 4-1. Can the Crusaders avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.