The Montabella Mustangs will take on the Vestaburg Wolverines at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
Montabella will bounce into Thursday's matchup after beating Carson City-Crystal, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. The Mustangs blew past the Eagles 9-3 on Monday.
Brady Kieff made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched three innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off two hits. Kieff was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-2.
In other pitching news, Mason Bogart looked comfortable as he struck out eight batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk).
Kieff wasn't the only one making solid contact as five players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Carson Mayer, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Vestaburg). They put the hurt on Coleman with a sharp 9-1 win on Monday. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory the Wolverines have posted against the Comets since April 22, 2022.
Like Montabella, Vestaburg also got a great game from a two-way player: Keegan Beetley. On the mound, Beetley kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 12 over four innings pitched. Meanwhile, Jansen Scholer pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off five hits. He also tossed no walks, which is notable because Vestaburg is 2-1 when he allows at most two walks, but 1-2 otherwise. At bat, Beetley scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances, while Scholer scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-4. Those three runs gave Beetley a new career-high.
The win got Montabella back to even at 2-2. As for Vestaburg, the victory got them back to even at 3-3.
Everything went Montabella's way against Vestaburg when the teams last played back in May of 2024, as Montabella made off with an 8-2 win. Do the Mustangs have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Wolverines turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
