Baseball Game Preview: Waynesburg Central Raiders vs. Tohopekaliga Tigers

The Waynesburg Central Raiders will face off against the Tohopekaliga Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Waynesburg Central gave their fans exactly what they wanted out of a home opener on Sunday. They blew past Roman Catholic 9-1.

Alex VanSickle

Batters Struck Out (Career)

03/16/25 vs Roman Catholic	7
04/25/24 @ West Greene	3
05/07/24 @ McGuffey	2
04/19/24 vs Greensburg Salem	2
03/28/24 vs Bethlehem Center	2

Alex VanSickle made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out seven over four innings pitched. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in strikeouts. He was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing Four bases. while going 3-for-4.

In other batting news, Austin Surber was incredible, scoring two runs and stealing Two bases. while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Derek Turcheck, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases and one RBI.

Waynesburg Central was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .375. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .308 or higher in five consecutive contests dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, Tohopekaliga entered their tilt with Orlando Christian Prep on Thursday with two consecutive wins , and they'll enter their next game with three. They never let the Warriors get on the board and left with a 10-0 win. The Tigers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won three matches by ten runs or more this season.

Tohopekaliga also got a great performance from Gabriel Hernandez as he didn't allow a single earned run over six innings pitched. Hernandez also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Tohopekaliga is 3-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 2-4 otherwise.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Hudson Moberly, who went 3-for-4 with one home run and three RBI. That home run marked the first that he launched this season. Efren Blanco Jr was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.