The North Florida Christian Eagles have the luxury of staying home for another game and will welcome the St. Joseph Academy Flashes at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
North Florida Christian is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They never let St. John Paul II onto the board and left with an 11-0 victory. Give North Florida Christian's pitching crew some credit: that's the team's third straight shutout.
Noah Miller was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits. Miller has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive pitching appearances. Miller was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI.
In other batting news, Jimmy Meeks was incredible, going 1-for-2 with a home run, two runs, and a stolen base. Another player making a difference was Jace Riggan, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph Academy had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 2 runs), and they went ahead and made it three on Wednesday. Everything went their way against the Eagles as they made off with a 13-2 win. With that victory, St. Joseph Academy brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Jacob Guthmiller looked comfortable as he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
At the plate, Connor Lewis was a standout: he scored three runs while going 3-for-3. Aiden Torrez was another key contributor, going 1-for-1 with three RBI, a triple, and a run.
North Florida Christian has been performing well recently as they've won 12 of their last 15 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 18-6-2 record this season. As for St. Joseph Academy, their win bumped their record up to 20-8.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. North Florida Christian has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like St. Joseph Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.9. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
North Florida Christian beat St. Joseph Academy 3-0 in their previous meeting back in April of 2016. Will North Florida Christian repeat their success, or does St. Joseph Academy have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
