Baseball Game Preview: Melbourne Central Catholic Hustlers vs. Merritt Island Christian Cougars

Hustlers

Runs

02/27/25 @ Central	5
02/21/25 @ Rockledge	2
02/19/25 @ Astronaut	15
02/17/25 vs Satellite	5
02/14/25 @ Heritage	8
+ 2 more games

Melbourne Central Catholic has gone a perfect 6-0 against Merritt Island Christian recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Tuesday. The Melbourne Central Catholic Hustlers will challenge the Merritt Island Christian Cougars at 5:00 p.m. Melbourne Central Catholic is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.9 runs per game this season.

Last Thursday, Melbourne Central Catholic came up short against Central and fell 9-5.

Thomas Gonnella made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and scored a run and stole two bases while going 1-for-2.

Meanwhile, Merritt Island Christian fought the good fight in their extra-innings match against Orlando Christian Prep on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Warriors by a score of 5-3.

Merritt Island Christian saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Bode Handwork, who went 1-for-4 with one RBI.

Melbourne Central Catholic's loss ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 5-2. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Merritt Island Christian, their defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 1-2.

Melbourne Central Catholic's speedy runners might be the difference in Tuesday's contest. Melbourne Central Catholic has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3 stolen bases per game. It's a different story for Merritt Island Christian, though, as they've been averaging only 1 stolen bases. Will they be able to secure the bases, or will Melbourne Central Catholic continue to outrun the ball?

Melbourne Central Catholic was able to grind out a solid win over Merritt Island Christian in their previous meeting back in April of 2024, winning 4-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for Melbourne Central Catholic since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.