Baseball Game Preview: Bloom-Carroll Bulldogs vs. Pickerington North Panthers

Bloom-Carroll is 0-3 against Pickerington North since April of 2016 but things could change on Monday. The Bulldogs will challenge the Panthers at 5:00 p.m. The last five games Bloom-Carroll has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

On Saturday, Bloom-Carroll didn't have quite enough to beat Lancaster and fell 4-3.

Meanwhile, Pickerington North entered their tilt with Pickerington Central on Saturday with three consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with four. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past the Tigers 5-3.

Pickerington North got a great performance from Gabe Garcia as he struck out 11 batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off six hits. Those 11 strikeouts gave Garcia a new career-high.

On the hitting side, Pickerington North's win was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Nolan Sanders, who went 1-for-4 with two stolen bases and one run. Sanders is becoming a predictor of the Panthers' success: when he posts at least two stolen bases the team is undefeated (and 8-9 when he doesn't).

Pickerington North's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-9. Those road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.7 runs over those games. As for Bloom-Carroll, their loss dropped their record down to 16-4.