The Greencastle-Antrim Blue Devils will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against the East Pennsboro Panthers at 4:15 p.m. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Greencastle-Antrim's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Big Spring 1-0.
The result came thanks to Ben Horst's shutout, as he gave up just two hits and racked up nine Ks. Those nine strikeouts set a new season-high mark for him.
At the plate, Greencastle-Antrim's win was truly a team effort as six different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Logan Shifflett, who went 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI.
Meanwhile, East Pennsboro had already won eight in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.9 runs), and they went ahead and made it nine on Monday. They skirted past the Blue Raiders 3-2.
Niko Thalassinos spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on three hits and racked up six Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't pitched less than six innings in three consecutive pitching appearances.
Greencastle-Antrim has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-8 record this season. As for East Pennsboro, they pushed their record up to 16-2 with that victory, which was their sixth straight at home.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Greencastle-Antrim has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like East Pennsboro struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.3. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Greencastle-Antrim took their win against East Pennsboro in their previous matchup back in April of 2023 by a conclusive 17-11. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was East Pennsboro's Andrew Swenson, who went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs. Now that he won't be playing on Tuesday, will it be that much easier for Greencastle-Antrim to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
