The St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders will head out to face off against the Jesuit Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (St. Thomas Aquinas 2.9, Jesuit 2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
St. Thomas Aquinas' hitters will try to repeat the strong performance they gave on Friday, when they got past Gaither's usually-dominant pitching crew. St. Thomas Aquinas came out on top against Gaither by a score of 10-3 (the very same score they lost by in their prior game). The Raiders might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four matchups by seven runs or more this season.
St. Thomas Aquinas got a great performance from Julian Diaz as he struck out eight batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit. That's the fewest earned runs Diaz has allowed since back in April of 2024.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Zack Malvasio, who went 1-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and three RBI. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in May of 2024. CJ Pangallo also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.
Meanwhile, Jesuit waltzed into their contest on Friday with seven straight wins... but they left with eight. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Crusaders a 1-0 shutout.
The result came thanks to Wilson Andersen's shutout, as he gave up just three hits and racked up ten Ks. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Bryce Besece was excellent, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one triple and one RBI. Another player making a difference was Christian Sheffield, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Jesuit's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-1. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for St. Thomas Aquinas, their record now sits at 7-3-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. St. Thomas Aquinas has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Jesuit struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.9 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
