The Maplewood-Richmond Heights Blue Devils will square off against the Metro Panthers at 4:15 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are strolling into their games after big wins in their previous games.
Metro will face off against a team with plenty of momentum: Maplewood-Richmond Heights extended their winning streak to three on Wednesday. The Blue Devils put the hurt on St. Mary's with a sharp 14-4 victory. Considering the Blue Devils have won four matchups by more than seven runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Metro). Everything went their way against Hancock on Thursday as they made off with a 20-3 win. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
Patrick Bruns was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit over four innings pitched. What's more, he posted three strikeouts, the most he's had since back in April of 2024. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-5 with three RBI, two runs, and one double.
In other batting news, Metro let Dylan Grayem and Hugh Hollway run wild. Grayem went 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, and one RBI, while Hollway went 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and one double. Those three RBI gave Hollway a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Joseph Wohlrabe, who went 1-for-3 with two runs and one RBI.
The win (which was Metro's third in a row) raised their record to 3-1. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Maplewood-Richmond Heights, the win got them back to even at 4-4.
Maplewood-Richmond Heights took their victory against Metro when the teams last played back in May of 2023 by a conclusive 10-0 score. Will the Blue Devils repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
