The Coldwater Cardinals are taking a road trip to challenge the Vicksburg Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Coldwater fought the good fight in their extra-innings matchup against Western last Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Panthers by a score of 10-8. The Cardinals have struggled against the Panthers recently, as the game was their third consecutive lost meeting.
Dayton Ennis and Landon Auble were huge no matter where they played even without the win. Throwing, Ennis pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Meanwhile, Auble tossed six innings while giving up three earned (and four unearned) runs off eight hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in walks (two). At the plate, Ennis got on base in three of his five plate appearances with one run and one RBI, while Auble got on base in all three of his plate appearances with one run and one RBI. Auble also got a hit, marking his first of the season.
In other batting news, Finn Hansen was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-5 with two RBI, one run, and one double. That double marked the first that he has hit this season. Owen Tappenden was another key player, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run.
Meanwhile, Vicksburg had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. They came within a single run of losing the streak, but they secured a 7-6 W against the Eddies. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Bulldogs have posted against the Eddies since May 9, 2017.
Vicksburg also got a great performance from Hunter Bell as he struck out six batters over five innings while giving up three earned (and two unearned) runs off seven hits (and only one walk). Bell has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts any time he's pitched this season.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Mitch Beyer, who went 1-for-3 with three stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI. Vicksburg is undefeated when Beyer posts two or more stolen bases, but 4-7-1 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Maddox Rosalin, who went 2-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Coldwater's loss dropped their record down to 4-8. As for Vicksburg, the win got them back to even at 7-7-1.
Coldwater suffered a grim 13-1 defeat to Vicksburg when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Can the Cardinals avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
