An exciting North v. South battle is about to be fought. The Bloomington North Cougars will be playing in front of their home fans against the Bloomington South Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Bloomington North 3.5, Bloomington South 3.4) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Bloomington North's hitters will try to repeat the strong performance they gave on Wednesday, when they got past Eastern Greene's usually-dominant pitching crew. The Cougars were the clear victors by a 14-3 margin over the Thunderbirds. Considering the Cougars have won eight matchups by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Meanwhile, Bloomington South hadn't done well against Columbus North recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Wednesday. The Panthers walked away with a 4-1 victory over the Bull Dogs. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last four times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Collin Marcum spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on four hits and racked up nine Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Bloomington South let Connor Osborne and Connor Couch run wild. Osborne went 1-for-3 with one home run and two RBI, while Couch went 1-for-2 with one home run and two RBI. Those two RBI gave Couch a new career-high.
Bloomington South lost a few balls and finished the game with two home runs. That's the most home runs they've managed all season.
Bloomington South pushed their record up to 12-6 with the win, which was their eighth straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Bloomington North, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 10-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
