Gillespie is 8-1 against Pana since April of 2015 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Tuesday. The Miners will head out on the road to take on the Panthers at 4:30 p.m. Gillespie is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.3 runs per game this season.
Gillespie barely beat Vandalia the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Miners were the clear victors by a 7-1 margin over the Vandals on Friday. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last seven times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Brody Shaw spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on two hits and racked up six Ks. He has become a key player for Gillespie: the team is 3-1 when he allows at most two earned runs, but 2-4 otherwise.
Dawson Lancaster
| 04/11/25 vs Vandalia | 3 |
| 04/08/25 @ Litchfield | 2 |
| 03/31/25 vs Metro-East Lutheran | 1 |
| 03/19/25 @ Jersey | 1 |
| 04/12/24 vs Staunton | 1 |
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Dawson Lancaster, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4. Those three runs gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Luke Schuckenbrock, who went 1-for-3 with one double and one RBI.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Pana). Everything went their way against Central A & M on Monday as they made off with a 14-5 win. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
Carder Burris was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Burris was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, Pana let Madyx Angel and Easton Malisia run wild. Angel scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3, while Malisia scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. The team also got some help courtesy of Cash Lynch, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Pana always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .583. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Gillespie is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-5 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.5 runs on average over those games. As for Pana, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 5-5.
Gillespie skirted past Pana 3-2 when the teams last played back in April of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Miners since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
