The Randolph Southern Rebels will take on the Seton Catholic Cardinals at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Randolph Southern is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak.
Friday just wasn't the day for Randolph Southern's offense. They lost 10-0 to Blue River Valley on Friday. That's two games in a row now that the Rebels have lost by exactly ten runs.
Meanwhile, Seton Catholic made easy work of Indianapolis Shortridge on Friday and carried off a 13-3 win. The Cardinals haven't had any issues with the Blue Devils recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive victory against them.
Taeon Tate made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over 3.1 innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off two hits. Those eight strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in two of his four plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI. He has become a key player for Seton Catholic: the team is 5-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 1-11 otherwise.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Colin Murray, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with three stolen bases, three runs, and one RBI. He is becoming a predictor of Seton Catholic's success: when he posts at least two stolen bases the team is 4-1 (and 2-11 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Joe Thomas, who earned one RBI, two runs, and one stolen base.
Seton Catholic's win bumped their record up to 6-12. As for Randolph Southern, their loss dropped their record down to 3-18.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Randolph Southern has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Seton Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Randolph Southern took their victory against Seton Catholic when the teams last played back in April by a conclusive 14-8 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Rebels since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
