The St. Mary Central Catholic Panthers will head out to square off against the Lakota Raiders at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. St. Mary Central Catholic's pitching crew has only allowed 3.6 runs per game this season, so Lakota's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
St. Mary Central Catholic couldn't beat Hopewell-Loudon on Wednesday even though they stacked four runs on them in the third inning. The Panthers fell just short of the Chieftains by a score of 6-5. The Panthers have struggled against the Chieftains recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost meeting.
Austin Gill was cooking despite his team's loss, going 1-for-2 with three stolen bases, one run, and one RBI. Another player making a difference was Reid Wikel, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Lakota). They put the hurt on St. Joseph Central Catholic with a sharp 12-2 victory on Wednesday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest win of the season.
Grant Bomer made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out ten batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off one hit. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in May of 2024. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with one run and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Grant Scherger, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. That's the most runs he has posted since back in May of 2024. Graham Harmon also deserves some recognition as he brought in his first RBI of the season.
Lakota was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .407. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as St. Joseph Central Catholic only posted a batting average of .118.
Lakota is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 4-3 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.3 runs over those games. As for St. Mary Central Catholic, their loss dropped their record down to 6-5.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Monday as neither team is afraid to steal. St. Mary Central Catholic has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Lakota struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 2.9 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
St. Mary Central Catholic couldn't quite get it done against Lakota in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 as they fell 8-5. Can the Panthers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
