The Toledo Christian Eagles will head out to take on the Oak Harbor Rockets at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
While Toledo Christian's win against McComb wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Eagles beat the Panthers last Friday by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 7-6. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Eagles.
Toledo Christian's victory was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Gage Hess, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI. Gavin Hamilton (White Uniform) was another, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Meanwhile, Oak Harbor came tearing into Friday's match with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.5 runs), and they left with even more momentum. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Knights a 13-0 shutout. The Rockets might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won eight games by six runs or more this season.
Michael LaLonde was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out seven over 4.2 innings pitched. He has been consistent: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in eight consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three runs and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Brayden Butzin, who went 3-for-4 with four RBI, two runs, and one double. Another player making a difference was Jaxson Overmyer, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
Oak Harbor was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .484. The last time their batting average was this high was back in March of 2024.
Oak Harbor pushed their record up to 16-3 with the win, which was their fifth straight on the road. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Toledo Christian, the win got them back to even at 8-8.
Everything went Toledo Christian's way against Oak Harbor in their previous matchup back in May of 2019, as Toledo Christian made off with a 10-0 victory. Will the Eagles repeat their success, or do the Rockets have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
