The Harmony Area Owls will square off against the Blacklick Valley Vikings at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Harmony Area's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They put the hurt on Ferndale with a sharp 7-0 victory.
Not much got past JJ Sward, who gave up just three hits and racked up 12 Ks to keep Ferndale off the board. Sward also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Harmony Area is 3-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 2-9 otherwise.
Hunter Pearce
| 04/30/25 vs Glendale | 3 |
| 05/08/25 @ Ferndale | 2 |
| 04/25/25 @ West Branch | 2 |
| 05/07/25 vs Moshannon Valley | 1 |
| 04/30/25 vs Glendale | 1 |
| + 6 more games |
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Hunter Pearce, who went 4-for-5 with two stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI. He has become a key player for Harmony Area: the team is 2-1 when he posts at least two stolen bases, but 3-9 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Parker Maseto, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double.
Meanwhile, Blacklick Valley made easy work of Shanksville Stonycreek on Thursday and carried off a 10-0 win. The result was nothing new for Blacklick Valley, who have now won six matches by ten runs or more so far this season.
Landon Turcheck looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits.
At the plate, Blacklick Valley got a massive performance out of Greg Schilling, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, and two RBI. That's the most doubles Schilling has posted since back in April. Eli Sheesley was another key player, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, one run, and one RBI.
Blacklick Valley was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .448. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.
Harmony Area's victory ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 5-10. As for Blacklick Valley, their win bumped their record up to 15-3.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. Harmony Area has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.3 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Blacklick Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.6 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Harmony Area couldn't quite finish off Blacklick Valley in their previous meeting back in April and fell 8-6. Will the Owls have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
