Harrisburg is 0-8 against East Pennsboro since April of 2021 but things could change on Thursday. A feisty cat fight will be fought as Harrisburg Cougars challenge East Pennsboro Panthers at 4:15 p.m. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Harrisburg made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Milton Hershey, but they still couldn't quite topple them. Harrisburg was the clear victor by an 11-1 margin over Milton Hershey on Tuesday. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Cougars' hitters, who had struggled in the games prior.
Ronny Daniel De Leon made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Daniel De Leon was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Juan Elias, who scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances. Radal Penguero was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but East Pennsboro ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Trinity 5-3. The win continues a trend for the Panthers in their matchups with the Shamrocks: they've now won six in a row.
Like Harrisburg, East Pennsboro also got a great game from a two-way player: Ryan Seibert. On the mound, Seibert pitched six innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. Meanwhile, Brock Shaffer pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. At the plate, Seibert scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2, while Shaffer went 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI.
In other batting news, Lucas Martz and Eric Foster Jr. did most of the damage at the plate: Martz scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-4, while Foster Jr. went 1-for-4 with one home run. That's the most stolen bases Martz has posted since back in April of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Jovi DeJesus, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base and one RBI.
East Pennsboro pushed their record up to 3-0 with the victory, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Harrisburg, their victory (their first of the season) made their record 1-2.
Harrisburg suffered a grim 15-0 defeat to East Pennsboro in their previous matchup back in April of 2024. Can Harrisburg avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
