Bennett has gone 8-1 against Middle Park recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Tigers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Panthers at 4:00 p.m. After the two teams made easy work of their previous opponents, one won't be so lucky on Thursday.
On Monday, Bennett made easy work of Arvada and carried off a 14-4 win. The victory continues a trend for the Tigers in their matchups with the Bulldogs: they've now won three in a row.
Evan Garner
| 04/14/25 vs Arvada | 5 |
| 04/07/25 vs Alameda | 3 |
| 04/05/24 vs North Fork | 3 |
| 03/23/24 vs Fort Morgan | 2 |
| 05/02/24 @ Elizabeth | 1 |
Evan Garner made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing three innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (five). He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with two runs, one triple, and two RBI. Bennett is 3-1 when Garner posts two or more runs, but 3-6 otherwise.
In other batting news, Rafael Ibarra was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing a base while getting on base in all five of his plate appearances. He has become a key player for Bennett: the team is 4-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 2-6 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Brody Hawes, who scored two runs while going 3-for-4.
Bennett kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 18 hits. They are a perfect 3-0 when they post 11 or more hits.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Middle Park). They blew past Platte Canyon 14-6 on Monday. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Panthers considering their one-run performance the match before.
Noah Hunter looked comfortable as he tossed four innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Diogui Laynes, who scored four runs and stole four bases while going 4-for-5. Those runs marked the first that he scored this season. The team also got some help courtesy of William Trail, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-5.
Middle Park's win ended a five-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 3-5. As for Bennett, their victory bumped their record up to 6-7.
Middle Park's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Thursday. Bennett has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.6 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Middle Park, though, as they've been averaging only 3.4 strikeouts. Will Bennett keep running through batters, or will the Panthers buck the trend?
Everything went Bennett's way against Middle Park in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, as Bennett made off with a 15-0 win. Will the Tigers repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
