vs
| 04/11/24 - Home | 5-8 L |
| 04/09/24 - Away | 1-11 L |
| 05/12/22 - Neutral | 6-5 W |
| 03/16/22 - Away | 3-6 L |
| 04/20/21 - Home | 6-2 W |
| + 5 more games |
Palo Verde and Faith Lutheran are an even 5-5 against one another since April of 2017, but likely not for long. The Panthers will host the Crusaders at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Palo Verde is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.2 runs per game this season.
Palo Verde is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nevada's top teams: Centennial, who was ranked seventh at the time (Palo Verde was ranked third). The Panthers lost 12-3 to the Bulldogs on Wednesday. Surprisingly, this marked the fourth straight game that the away team has come away the victor.
Palo Verde got a good showing from Zach Franke, who pitched three innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit. Franke has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one walk in five consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Palo Verde saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ethan Clauss, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Faith Lutheran had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They came within a single run of losing the streak, but they secured a 4-3 W against the Longhorns.
Keegan Burke looked comfortable as he struck out six batters over four innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off four hits (and only one walk). Those six strikeouts gave him a new career-high.
Faith Lutheran's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-8. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.6 runs on average over those games. As for Palo Verde, their loss dropped their record down to 14-6.
Palo Verde came up short against Faith Lutheran when the teams last played back in April of 2024, falling 8-5. Can the Panthers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
