St. Paul/Palmer is 0-9 against Central City/Centura since April of 2021 but things could change on Saturday. The Wildcats will challenge the Kernels at 10:00 a.m.
St. Paul/Palmer is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to ten runs on Thursday, they were much more limited against Adams Central on Friday. They lost 9-1 to the Patriots. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last three times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
St. Paul/Palmer saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Layne Baker, who went 1-for-2 with one double.
Meanwhile, Central City/Centura had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.7 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Thurston-Cuming County a 6-0 shutout. The Kernels might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 14 contests by six runs or more this season.
Not much got past Conner Erickson, who gave up just seven hits to keep Thurston-Cuming County off the board. Erickson has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Colter Lueders, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Another player making a difference was Quinn Jensen, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one run.
Central City/Centura's victory bumped their record up to 21-1. As for St. Paul/Palmer, their loss dropped their record down to 10-8.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. St. Paul/Palmer has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Central City/Centura struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 9.7 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
St. Paul/Palmer came up short against Central City/Centura in their previous meeting back in April, falling 9-4. Can the Wildcats avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
