The Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory Fightin' Irish will head out on the road to square off against the St. Ignatius College Preparatory Wildcats at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory will be strutting in after a victory while St. Ignatius College Preparatory will be coming in after a loss.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory barely beat Lincoln the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Fightin' Irish put the hurt on the Mustangs with a sharp 10-0 win on Tuesday. The victory continues a trend for the Fightin' Irish in their matchups with the Mustangs: they've now won four in a row.
Quinn Middleton made a splash while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out six over five innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two RBI and one run. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in March.
In other batting news, Johnny Nepomuceno was excellent, going 1-for-2 with three RBI, one triple, and one run. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Santino Baisman, who went 1-for-3 with three RBI, one run, and one double.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .533. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive matchups.
Fans were treated to a battle of the Wildcats on Thursday. St. Ignatius College Preparatory fell just short of Whitney by a score of 3-1. St. Ignatius College Preparatory has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Spencer Guido was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he didn't allow a single earned run over 4.2 innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because St. Ignatius College Preparatory is 6-2-1 when he allows at most two earned runs, but 4-5-1 otherwise.
At the plate, St. Ignatius College Preparatory saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Archer Horn, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base.
The win got Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory back to even at 10-10. As for St. Ignatius College Preparatory, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-7-2.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like St. Ignatius College Preparatory struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.2 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory couldn't quite get it done against St. Ignatius College Preparatory in their previous matchup back in March as they fell 6-3. Can the Fightin' Irish avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
