A feisty cat fight will be fought as Mansfield Tigers challenge Athens Wildcats at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are still undefeated (Mansfield has four wins , while Athens has three).
Mansfield took a nine-run defeat the last time they faced off against Troy, but this time they managed to keep it close and that made all the difference. Mansfield came out on top in a nail-biter against Troy on Thursday, sneaking past 6-4.
Mansfield saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Easton Cleveland-Pequignot, who went 2-for-4 with one home run and four RBI. Another was Cooper Shaw, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, Athens made easy work of Wyalusing Valley on Thursday and carried off a 19-4 victory. Fans of the Wildcats have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 6+ runs.
Duncan Thetga looked comfortable as he struck out seven batters over four innings while giving up four earned runs off four hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April of 2024.
On the hitting side, Brady Flynn and Nick Grazul did most of the damage at the plate: Flynn scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances, while Grazul went 2-for-3 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Brendan Cooke, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Athens always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .568. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .568 or higher every time they've taken the field this season.
Athens' win bumped their record up to 3-0. As for Mansfield, their victory bumped their record up to 4-0.
Mansfield came out on top in a nail-biter against Athens in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, sneaking past 4-3. Will Mansfield repeat their success, or does Athens has a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
