Baseball Game Preview: Elida Tigers vs. Gateway Christian Warriors

Elida hasn't had much luck against Gateway Christian recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Tigers will face off against the Warriors at 2:00 p.m. Elida knows how to get runs on the board -- the squad has finished with ten runs or more in their past five games -- so hopefully Gateway Christian likes a good challenge.

Elida took a 14-run defeat the last time they faced off against Non Varsity Opponent, but this time they managed to keep it close and that made all the difference. The Tigers had just enough and edged out Non Varsity Opponent 15-14 on Monday. 15 seems to be a good number for the Tigers as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Hardy Fraze

Runs

04/28/25 vs Non Varsity Opponent	3
04/25/25 vs Dora	3
04/14/25 vs Floyd	3
03/28/25 @ Floyd	3
04/25/25 vs Dora	2
+ 5 more games

Elida's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Hardy Fraze, who got on base in four of his five plate appearances with three runs, one double, and one RBI. Fraze is becoming a predictor of the Tigers' success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 6-1 (and 2-3 when he doesn't).

Meanwhile, Gateway Christian had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 17.8 runs) and they went ahead and made it six on Monday. They came out on top against the Buffaloes by a score of 9-6.

Gateway Christian pushed their record up to 12-4 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 15.2 runs over those games. As for Elida, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 8-4 record this season.

Elida might still be hurting after the 14-4 loss they got from Gateway Christian in their previous meeting on April 7th. Can the Tigers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.