The Evansville Mater Dei Wildcats will challenge the Northview Knights at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Evansville Mater Dei's pitching crew has only allowed 3.8 runs per game this season, so Northview's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Evansville Mater Dei's hitters might be in the hot seat on Saturday considering what happened against Evansville North on Thursday. They took a 5-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Huskies. Evansville Mater Dei has not had much luck with Evansville North recently, as the team's come up short the last five times they've met.
Even though they lost, Evansville Mater Dei didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with eight strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Evansville North only tossed three.
Meanwhile, it was a hard-fought matchup, but Northview had to settle for a 4-3 defeat against Indian Creek on Thursday.
Caden Schrader was huge no matter where he played even without the win. He struck out six batters over three innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off five hits. Schrader has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. Schrader was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
In other pitching news, Northview got a good showing from Trey Eldridge, who pitched three innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits.
Schrader wasn't the only one making solid contact as five players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Jackson Pierce, who went 3-for-3 with a double.
Evansville Mater Dei's record is now 9-5. As for Northview, their record is now 7-5.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Evansville Mater Dei has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Northview struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Everything went Evansville Mater Dei's way against Northview in their previous meeting back in April of 2023 as Evansville Mater Dei made off with a 12-0 win. Will Evansville Mater Dei repeat their success, or does Northview have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
