The Mentor Cardinals will head out on the road to challenge the Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Royals at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Mentor 3.4, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy 3.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Mentor is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Ohio's top teams: St. Ignatius, who was ranked 11th at the time (Mentor was ranked 23rd). The Cardinals fell 5-2 to the Wildcats on Friday. Surprisingly, this marked the Cardinals' fourth straight game in which the away team has come away the victor.
Will Link
| 05/16/25 vs St. Ignatius | 2 |
| 05/12/25 @ North | 1 |
| 04/12/25 vs GlenOak | 1 |
| 04/02/25 @ Euclid | 1 |
Mentor got a good showing from Will Link, who tossed three innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Link has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two hits in four consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Mentor saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jack Vanhimbergen, who went 1-for-2 with one run.
Meanwhile, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy came tearing into Saturday's match with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.4 runs), and they left with even more momentum. They never let the Bulldogs get on the board and left with a 3-0 victory.
Not much got past Nik Wirsching, who gave up just a hit to keep Woodridge off the board.
Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-6. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 6.4 runs over those games. As for Mentor, the loss snapped their winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 16-5 record.
Mentor's speedy runners might be the difference in Monday's game. The Cardinals have been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 2.8 stolen bases per game. It's a different story for Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, though, as they've been averaging only 1 stolen bases. Will they be able to secure the bases, or will Mentor continue to outrun the ball?
Mentor couldn't quite finish off Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in their previous matchup back in May of 2024 and fell 7-5. Can the Cardinals avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
