Garden Spot is 1-9 against Donegal since April of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Wednesday. The Spartans will be playing at home against the Indians at 7:00 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
Donegal will be up against a hot Garden Spot team: the squad just extended their winning streak to three. The Spartans put the hurt on Eastern Lebanon County with a sharp 9-2 win on Monday. Considering the Spartans have won seven contests by more than five runs this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.
Madix Bracken
| 04/16/25 vs Cocalico | 9 |
| 04/23/25 vs Octorara Area | 3 |
| 04/28/25 @ Eastern Lebanon County | 2 |
| 04/09/25 vs Eastern Lebanon County | 2 |
Madix Bracken made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching three innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. He has become a key player for Garden Spot: the team is 2-1 when he allows at most three hits, but 7-8 otherwise. Bracken was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, one run, and one double.
In other batting news, Ryder Hertzler was incredible, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with one home run, three RBI, and two runs. Garden Spot is 3-1 when Hertzler posts two or more runs, but 6-8 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Brody Torrance, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI.
Garden Spot was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .382. They are a perfect 5-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Donegal). Their pitchers stepped up to hand Cocalico a 17-0 shutout on Monday. With that victory, the Indians brought their scoring average up to 6.3 runs per game.
The team relied heavily on Leland Condran, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, four RBI, and one triple. Those three runs gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Andrew Fabian, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI, two runs, and one double.
Donegal has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a massive bump to their 10-7 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 4.0 runs on average over those games. As for Garden Spot, the victory got them back to even at 9-9.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Garden Spot has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Donegal struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.4 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Garden Spot couldn't quite get it done against Donegal in their previous meeting two weeks ago as they fell 4-1. Will the Spartans have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
