The Heartland Christian Lions will square off against the Bristol Panthers at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Heartland Christian is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They blew past Southern 18-2 on Monday. The win continues a trend for the Lions in their matchups with the Indians: they've now won five in a row.
Alex Hamilton
| 05/19/25 @ Southern | 2 |
| 05/16/25 @ Leetonia | 1 |
| 05/14/25 @ Bristol | 1 |
| 04/24/25 @ East Palestine | 1 |
| 04/12/25 @ United | 1 |
Evan Farrell and Alex Hamilton were major factors no matter where they played. Throwing, Farrell pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Hamilton tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Farrell also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Heartland Christian is 2-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 3-13 otherwise. At the plate, Farrell got on base in three of his five plate appearances with three RBI and one run, while Hamilton went 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI. Those two RBI gave Hamilton a new career-high.
In other batting news, Heartland Christian got a massive performance out of Jack Morgan, who went 3-for-4 with two runs, one double, and one RBI. Morgan has become a key player for the Lions: the team is 4-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 1-13 otherwise. Brennan Murray was another key player, getting on base in all three of his plate appearances with three runs and one RBI.
Heartland Christian always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .659. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, while Bristol put up plenty of runs on Tuesday, the same can't be said for Lordstown. The Panthers were the clear victors by a 20-0 margin over the Red Devils. The Panthers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won ten matches by six runs or more this season.
Croc Thorp was a standout: he went 3-for-4 with three runs, four RBI, and one double. Another player making a difference was Kaiden Kohler, who went 1-for-2 with three runs, four RBI, and one stolen base.
Bristol has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games. That's provided a nice bump to their 14-9 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.0 runs over those games. As for Heartland Christian, their win bumped their record up to 5-14.
Heartland Christian came up short against Bristol when the teams last played on Wednesday, falling 8-4. Will the Lions have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.
