Baseball Game Preview: Mountain Grove Panthers vs. Ava Bears

The Mountain Grove Panthers will face off against the Ava Bears at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The timing isn't great for Mountain Grove: they have been struggling with three straight losses at home, while Ava has snatched up four consecutive wins on the road dating back to last season.

Mountain Grove's last matchup with Licking could've gone either way, but unfortunately the same can't be said for the pair's match on Tuesday. The Panthers came up short against the Wildcats, falling 17-2. Having soared to a lofty 12 runs in the game before, the Panthers couldn't push the score so high this time.

Mountain Grove saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Trace Harker, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with one stolen base and one RBI.

While Ava didn't have the best season last year (they finished 7-15), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They skirted past Seymour 7-5. The win continues a trend for the Bears in their matchups with the Tigers: they've now won four in a row.

Mountain Grove's loss dropped their record down to 8-8. As for Ava, their victory bumped their record up to 7-4.

Everything went Mountain Grove's way against Ava in their previous meeting back in April of 2024, as Mountain Grove made off with a 9-1 win. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Bears turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.