Hempfield Area is 2-8 against Mt. Lebanon since April of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Spartans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Blue Devils at 4:15 p.m. Mt. Lebanon took a loss in their last matchup and will be looking to turn the tables on Hempfield Area, who comes in off a win.
For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Hempfield Area and Norwin meet (two straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Wednesday. The Spartans walked away with a 5-2 victory over the Knights.
Hempfield Area got a great performance from Kevin Bender as he tossed five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits. The Spartans are 2-1 when Bender allows one or fewer earned runs, but 2-3 otherwise.
Ian Kovalcik
| 04/02/25 @ Norwin | 2 |
| 03/31/25 @ Norwin | 1 |
| 03/25/25 @ Stagg | 1 |
| 03/18/25 @ Pine-Richland | 1 |
At the plate, Hempfield Area's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Ian Kovalcik, who went 2-for-3 with one double. Those two hits gave Kovalcik a new career-high. Evan Dunlap also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.
Meanwhile, Mt. Lebanon was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their sixth straight loss. They took a 5-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of Pine-Richland.
Hempfield Area's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 4-4. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Mt. Lebanon, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-6.
Hempfield Area couldn't quite finish off Mt. Lebanon when the teams last played back in April of 2024 and fell 3-1. Will the Spartans have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
