Baseball Game Preview: Durant Cougars vs. Plant Panthers

A feisty cat fight will be fought as Durant Cougars challenge Plant Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a five-game winning streak alive.

Durant lost a heartbreaker the last time they played Newsome, but it's fair to say they got their revenge given the result of Saturday's match. Everything went Durant's way against Newsome on Saturday as Durant made off with an 11-1 win. The Cougars might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four games by seven runs or more this season.

Owen Franklin

Hits Against

03/15/25 vs Newsome	2
03/11/25 vs Spoto	0
03/04/25 vs Sumner	2
02/27/25 @ King	1
02/18/25 vs Riverview	1

Owen Franklin tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only two hits over five innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two hits in five consecutive appearances.

At the plate, Durant let Brady Kelley and Jacob Purcell run wild. Kelley scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-2, while Purcell scored a run while going 2-for-3. That's the most runs Kelley has posted since back in April of 2024. Another player making a difference was Brantley Hayward, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI.

Meanwhile, Plant's rock-solid pitchers showed up for the team's fifth consecutive shutout on Saturday. They never let King get on the board and left with a 5-0 victory.

Plant pushed their record up to 11-2 with the win, which was their eighth straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.4 runs on average over those games. As for Durant, their victory bumped their record up to 8-3.

Durant took their win against Plant in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 6-0. Does Durant have another victory up their sleeve, or will Plant turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.