The St. Mary's Ryken Knights will challenge the Gonzaga Eagles at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (St. Mary's Ryken has three straight wins, Gonzaga has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
St. Mary's Ryken is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. Everything went their way against Archbishop Carroll on Wednesday as they made off with a 24-3 victory. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest win of the season.
Connor Todd was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He tossed 1.1 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (three). He was also big at the plate, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-4. He is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last three games he's played.
Austin Michael
| 04/16/25 @ Archbishop Carroll | 4 |
| 03/25/25 @ Bishop Ireton | 4 |
| 04/14/25 vs Bishop Ireton | 3 |
| 04/15/25 @ The Heights | 2 |
| 04/02/25 vs St. John's | 2 |
| + 5 more games |
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Austin Michael, who scored three runs and stole four bases while going 2-for-2. St. Mary's Ryken is 5-2 when Michael posts two or more stolen bases, but 5-6 otherwise. Another player making a difference was AJ Stefko, who scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
St. Mary's Ryken always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .592. They are a perfect 5-0 when they post an OBP of .513 or better.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga didn't have quite enough to beat Bishop O'Connell on Wednesday and fell 2-1. That's two games in a row now that the Eagles have lost by just one run.
Gonzaga's defeat dropped their record down to 11-9. As for St. Mary's Ryken, their victory bumped their record up to 10-8.
St. Mary's Ryken came out on top in a nail-biter against Gonzaga in their previous matchup back in March, sneaking past 7-6. Do the Knights have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Eagles turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
