The Valmeyer Pirates will stay at home for another  game and welcome the Mater Dei Knights at 4:30  p.m.  on Friday. Valmeyer is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 7.3  runs per game  this season.
 On Thursday, it was a hard-fought  contest, but Valmeyer had to settle for  a  7-6 defeat against Steeleville. Valmeyer has struggled against Steeleville recently, as their  game on Thursday was their third consecutive lost matchup.
  Luke Blackwell made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and  scored two  runs and  stole two bases while  getting on base  in two of his four plate appearances.  Troy Neff was another key contributor,  scoring two  runs while going 2-for-3.
 Meanwhile, Mater Dei had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3 runs), and they went ahead and made it three on Monday. They came out on top against the Warriors by a score of  10-5. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Mater Dei considering their two-run performance the  matchup before.
  Chase Zurliene tossed a big game,   not allowing a single  earned run and  only one  hit while striking out six over 4.2 innings pitched.
 On the hitting side,  the team  relied heavily on  Gabe Schlimme, who  scored two  runs and  stole two bases while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was  Wil Harris, who  scored two  runs while  getting on base  in all five of his plate appearances.
 Valmeyer's loss dropped their record down to 12-9. As for Mater Dei, their victory  ended  a  four-game drought on the road  and  puts them at 6-14.
 Valmeyer might still be hurting after the  8-1 defeat they got from Mater Dei  in their previous meeting  back in April of 2023. Thankfully for Valmeyer,  Cole Peppenhorst (who   tossed 4.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off   four  hits) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps