The Mt. Vernon Rams will take on the Highland Bulldogs at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.
The scorekeeper got an easy start on Friday as neither Mt. Vernon nor Freeburg made it on the board until the sixth inning. The Rams took a 4-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Midgets. The Rams have struggled against the Midgets recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost meeting.
Owen Burke was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he tossed 6.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and three unearned) runs off six hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in walks (zero).
At the plate, Mt. Vernon saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Alex Kiefer, who went 1-for-3 with one run.
Meanwhile, Highland waltzed into their match on Friday with four straight wins... but they left with five. They came out on top against the Wildcats by a score of 6-2.
Alex Howard tossed a big game, pitching six innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. What's more, he posted five strikeouts, the most he's had since back in March.
On the hitting side, Blake Gelly was excellent, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Will Jansen, who went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI.
Highland pushed their record up to 19-12 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Mt. Vernon, their defeat dropped their record down to 12-18.
Mt. Vernon came out on top in a nail-biter against Highland in their previous meeting back in May of 2023, sneaking past 1-0. Do the Rams have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Bulldogs turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
