The St. Marys Flying Dutch will face off against the Elk County Catholic Crusaders at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as St. Marys comes in on three and Elk County Catholic on 12.
St. Marys barely beat Bradford the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Flying Dutch put the hurt on the Owls with a sharp 13-4 win on Monday. Considering the Flying Dutch have won six matches by more than five runs this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.
Ben Paul
| 05/12/25 @ Bradford | 4 |
| 05/09/25 vs Clarion-Limestone | 3 |
| 04/30/25 vs Johnsonburg | 3 |
| 04/17/25 @ Brookville | 3 |
| 04/11/25 vs Clarion-Limestone | 3 |
Ben Paul made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched four innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Paul was even better at the plate, going 4-for-5 with five RBI, one run, and one double. Those four hits gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, TYSEN BEIMEL was incredible, going 3-for-4 with three runs and one RBI. St. Marys is undefeated when BEIMEL posts two or more runs, but 4-8 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Ben Reynolds, who went 1-for-5 with three runs and one triple.
St. Marys kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 13 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least 12 hits in three consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Elk County Catholic got themselves on the board against Kane on Monday, but Kane never followed suit. They walked away with a 5-0 victory over the Wolves.
Like St. Marys, Elk County Catholic also got a great game from a two-way player: Lance O'Neill. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over seven innings pitched. O'Neill has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Chase Simbeck, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, one run, and one double. Wyatt Brem was another key player, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Elk County Catholic's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-3. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.8 runs on average over those games. As for St. Marys, their win bumped their record up to 10-8.
St. Marys came up short against Elk County Catholic in their previous meeting two weeks ago, falling 8-3. Can the Flying Dutch avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
