The Ellet Orangemen will challenge the St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Ellet has struggled recently with four defeats in a row, while St. Vincent-St. Mary will arrive with four straight wins.
On Wednesday, Ellet didn't have quite enough to beat Firestone and fell 3-2.
Ellet saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jaden West, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with two stolen bases.
Meanwhile, St. Vincent-St. Mary got the win against Springfield on Wednesday by a conclusive 13-6. The result was nothing new for the Fighting Irish, who have now won nine matchups by seven runs or more so far this season.
Aidan Roberts looked comfortable as he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits.
On the hitting side, St. Vincent-St. Mary got a massive performance out of Logan Henderson, who went 2-for-4 with three runs, three RBI, and one triple. Those three RBI gave Henderson a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Ashton Tamzarian, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one run.
St. Vincent-St. Mary was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .444. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .367 or higher in four consecutive games.
St. Vincent-St. Mary pushed their record up to 15-7 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.0 runs over those games. As for Ellet, their loss dropped their record down to 9-9.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Ellet has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like St. Vincent-St. Mary struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 7 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Ellet came out on top in a nail-biter against St. Vincent-St. Mary in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, sneaking past 5-3. Do the Orangemen have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Fighting Irish turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
