Baseball Preview: Elk County Catholic Crusaders vs. Clarion Area Bobcats
Elk County Catholic and Clarion Area are an even 3-3 against one another since May of 2015, but likely not for long. The Elk County Catholic Crusaders will head out on the road to square off against the Clarion Area Bobcats at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Elk County Catholic is headed into the contest fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Cameron County on Friday and snuck past 4-3.
Lance O'Neill was a major factor no matter where he played. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over six innings pitched. O'Neill has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. O'Neill was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.
O'Neill wasn't the only one making solid contact as six players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Chase Simbeck, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Clarion Area had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 10.3 runs), and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. Everything went their way against the Raiders as they made off with a 14-2 win. Clarion Area might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won five matches by six runs or more this season.
Like Elk County Catholic, Clarion Area also got a great game from a two-way player: Devon Lauer. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching four innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. Lauer was even better at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a home run, five RBI, and three runs.
In other batting news, Noah Harrison was a standout: he scored a run while going 1-for-2. Another player making a difference was Tanner Miller, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-2.
Elk County Catholic's record now sits at 2-4. As for Clarion Area, they pushed their record up to 5-1 with that victory, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season.
Elk County Catholic came up short against Clarion Area in their previous matchup back in May of 2023, falling 4-0. Can Elk County Catholic avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
