The Padua Franciscan Bruins are taking a road trip to face off against the Lake Catholic Cougars at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Padua Franciscan 3.8, Lake Catholic 3.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
On Wednesday, Padua Franciscan needed a bit of extra time to put away St. Vincent-St. Mary. They walked away with a 9-5 victory over the Fighting Irish. The win was familiar territory for the Bruins, who have now won five matchups in a row.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Lake Catholic). Everything went their way against Geneva on Thursday as they made off with a 15-0 victory. With that win, the Cougars brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Shea Sievers was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out seven over four innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two RBI and one run. Those two hits gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, Joe Nagy was a standout: he got on base in both of his plate appearances with three runs. Another player making a difference was A.J. Trobenter, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Lake Catholic always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .625. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Padua Franciscan pushed their record up to 12-6 with the victory, which was their fifth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.4 runs on average over those games. As for Lake Catholic, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 14-2.
Padua Franciscan was able to grind out a solid win over Lake Catholic in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, winning 5-1. Will the Bruins repeat their success, or do the Cougars have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
