Petal is 0-10 against Brandon since April of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Petal Panthers will be playing at home against the Brandon Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m.
The matchup between Petal and Northwest Rankin on Friday hardly resembled the 4-0 effort from their previous meeting. Petal wound up on the wrong side of a rough 23-3 walloping at the hands of Northwest Rankin. Petal just can't catch a break and has now endured four losses in a row.
Tanner Beliveau and Fisher Howell stepped up to the plate in a big way. Beliveau went 1-for-3 with a home run, while Howell went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a double.
Meanwhile, Brandon came tearing into Thursday's contest with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.3 runs) and they left with even more momentum. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Wildcats a 15-0 shutout. The result was nothing new for Brandon, who have now won seven matches by six runs or more so far this season.
Not much got past Walker Hooks, who gave up just one hit and racked up nine Ks to keep Meridian off the board. Hooks has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Keith Forbes was incredible, firing off two home runs and five RBI while going 2-for-2. Jay McQueen was another key contributor, going 2-for-2 with two runs, a triple, and two RBI.
Petal's defeat dropped their record down to 5-8. As for Brandon, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season.
Petal came up short against Brandon in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, falling 5-0. Can Petal avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps