The Maine South Hawks will take on the Marist RedHawks in a tournament on Wednesday.
Maine South is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 14 runs on Monday, they were much more limited against Deerfield on Tuesday. They fell 5-2 to the Warriors.
Maine South got a good showing from Jake Zabratanski, who pitched 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Zabratanski has been consistent for a while: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in nine consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Maine South saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Alex Vale, who went 1-for-2 with one double. That double marked the first that Vale has hit this season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Marist). They were the clear victors by a 12-6 margin over Brookfield Central on Sunday. The win was nothing new for the RedHawks as they're now sitting on six straight.
Ryan Lawlor looked comfortable as he pitched 3.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits.
On the hitting side, Marist got a massive performance out of Tommy Hosty, who went 3-for-5 with three RBI, two doubles, and one run. Those two doubles gave Hosty a new career-high. John McAuliffe was another key player, going 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, one run, and one double.
Marist was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .407. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive games.
Marist pushed their record up to 11-7 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.8 runs on average over those games. As for Maine South, their defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 12-10.
Maine South skirted past Marist 3-2 in their previous matchup back in May of 2024. Will the Hawks repeat their success, or do the RedHawks have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
