The Parma Panthers are taking a road trip to face off against the Melba Mustangs at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Parma came into this matchup off a tough 18-run defeat on Saturday. This time they kept things ultra-competitive, but unfortunately the final result was the same. They fell just short of New Plymouth by a score of 4-2 on Monday. The Panthers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Parma saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Silas Kling, who went 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Melba was able to grind out a solid win over Vision on Monday, taking the game 6-2. The Mustangs haven't had any issues with Vision recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive victory against them.
Kelton Bodily and CJ Husted made a splash no matter where they played. Throwing, Bodily tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Husted struck out six batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in May of 2024. At the plate, Bodily got on base in all four of his plate appearances with four stolen bases, three runs, and one RBI, while Husted went 2-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI. Melba is 5-1 when Bodily posts two or more runs, but 4-10 otherwise.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Ty Aggen, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and one run.
Parma's loss dropped their record down to 7-13. As for Melba, their record is now 9-11.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Parma has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Melba struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 7.4 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Parma skirted past Melba 3-1 in their previous meeting two weeks ago. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Panthers since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
