The Vanguard Knights will face off against the Dunnellon Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Vanguard will be looking to extend their current four-game winning streak.
Vanguard is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Monday. They walked away with an 8-5 win over Lake Weir.
Cooper Ragle
| 04/14/25 vs Lake Weir | 10 |
| 04/08/25 vs Gainesville | 7 |
| 04/04/25 vs Forest | 1 |
| 03/28/25 vs Forest | 7 |
| 03/13/25 vs Belleview | 12 |
Cooper Ragle tossed a big game, striking out ten batters over 5.2 innings while giving up just two earned (and two unearned) runs off four hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in March.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jacob ?Jake? Wells, who scored a run and stole two bases while going 3-for-4. Those two stolen bases gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Braden Grubb, who scored two runs while going 3-for-4.
Vanguard was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .394. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Lake Weir only posted a batting average of .250.
Meanwhile, Dunnellon sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over Citrus on Monday.
Mark Pastorella spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on four hits and racked up ten Ks. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Dunnellon is 5-2 when he allows at most one earned run, but 7-12 otherwise.
On the hitting side, Draven White was excellent, going 1-for-2 with one home run. Jacob Fontanez was another key player, scoring a run while going 1-for-2.
Dunnellon has been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 12-14 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.4 runs on average over those games. As for Vanguard, their record now sits at 20-4.
Everything went Vanguard's way against Dunnellon in their previous meeting two weeks ago, as Vanguard made off with an 11-0 victory. Do the Knights have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Tigers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
