The Chicago Mt. Carmel Caravan will take on the Brother Rice Crusaders at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. Chicago Mt. Carmel has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with three straight losses, while Brother Rice will come in with 25 straight wins.
Saturday just wasn't the day for Chicago Mt. Carmel's offense. They came up short against St. Laurence on Saturday, falling 9-0. Having soared to a lofty 11 runs in the game before, the Caravan's shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
Meanwhile, Brother Rice faced Providence Catholic in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Saturday. The Crusaders came out on top in a nail-biter against the Celtics, sneaking past 5-4. Five seems to be a good number for the Crusaders as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Brayden McKendrick tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out six over 6.1 innings pitched.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Gavin Triezenberg, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, one triple, and one run. Nolan Ramoley was another key player, going 1-for-3 with two RBI, one run, and one double.
Brother Rice pushed their record up to 26-1 with the win, which was their 16th straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.6 runs on average over those games. As for Chicago Mt. Carmel, their defeat dropped their record down to 16-11.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Monday. Chicago Mt. Carmel hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.4 home runs per game. However, it's not like Brother Rice struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.5 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Chicago Mt. Carmel beat Brother Rice 3-0 in their previous meeting back in May of 2024. Do the Caravan have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Crusaders turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
