Baseball Game Preview: Patrick Henry Patriots vs. Cathedral Catholic Dons

For the second straight game, Patrick Henry will face off against Cathedral Catholic. The Patriots will be playing in front of their home fans against the Dons at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Patrick Henry 2.9, Cathedral Catholic 3.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.

The home team had won the previous four meetings between Patrick Henry and Cathedral Catholic, and Cathedral Catholic kept the tradition alive. The Patriots fell just short of the Dons by a score of 4-2 on Tuesday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat the Patriots have suffered since March 24th.

For Cathedral Catholic's part, they got a great performance from Levi Uslander as he struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits (and only one walk). That's the most strikeouts Uslander has posted since April 1st.

At the plate, Cathedral Catholic's victory was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Joshua Priest, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base and one run. Trey Kotsay also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.

Cathedral Catholic pushed their record up to 13-7 with the win, which was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season. The home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 6.4 runs over those games. As for Patrick Henry, their loss dropped their record down to 13-8-2.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Patrick Henry has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Cathedral Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.6 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.