The Anahuac Panthers will venture away from home to challenge the Kirbyville Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Anahuac can't be too worried about heading out to take on Kirbyville: they just beat Kountze at home, who had been dominant on their own field up to that point. The Panthers had just enough and edged out the Lions 5-3. Five seems to be a good number for the Panthers as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Michael Young was excellent, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and one RBI. Those stolen bases were his first of the season. Brayden Sutch was another key player, going 2-for-4 with one stolen base and two RBI.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Kirbyville). Everything went their way against East Chambers on Friday as they made off with a 21-1 victory. Considering the Wildcats have won nine matches by more than six runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Cooper Murphy made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He struck out six batters over two innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit. Murphy was also solid in the batter's box, scoring three runs and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. Those three runs gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Braxton Jacks, who fired off three home runs and eight RBI while going 3-for-4. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in runs (three). Another player making a difference was Kaden Cloud, who scored three runs while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
Kirbyville always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .645. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Kirbyville is on a roll lately: they've won 14 of their last 17 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 18-5 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.4 runs over those games. As for Anahuac, their victory ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 8-13-1.
Anahuac took their win against Kirbyville when the teams last played back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 7-0 score. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Wildcats turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
