Western is 0-5 against St. Thomas Aquinas since February of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Western Wildcats will play host again on Thursday to welcome the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders, where first pitch is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Western will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each game than the last.
Western stacked an eighth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Monarch with a sharp 10-4 win.
Western got a great performance from Ryan Schaefer as he didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out six over five innings pitched. Schaefer has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two hits in five consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Western let Danny Ortega and Aiden Andreu loose on the outfield. Ortega went 1-for-2 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs, while Andreu scored two runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-4. AJ Bertsch was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
Meanwhile, St. Thomas Aquinas fought the good fight in their extra-innings contest against West Broward on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Bobcats by a score of 5-4. St. Thomas Aquinas' defeat signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.
Noah Robinson was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he tossed 4.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits.
At the plate, Zack Malvasio made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
Western pushed their record up to 14-7 with that victory, which was their eighth straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.8 runs per game. As for St. Thomas Aquinas, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 14-5.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Western has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like St. Thomas Aquinas struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.4. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Western came up short against St. Thomas Aquinas when the teams last played back in February, falling 7-3. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of St. Thomas Aquinas' Anthony Ciscar, who didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over five innings pitched. Now that Western knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
