The Warren East Raiders will square off against the Franklin-Simpson Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Warren East's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They came out on top against Glasgow by a score of 4-0. The Raiders haven't had any issues with the Scotties recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive victory against them.
Brenden Bratcher
| 04/08/25 @ Countryside | 3 |
| 04/01/25 vs Greenwood | 3 |
| 04/14/25 vs Barren County | 1 |
| 03/27/25 @ South Warren | 1 |
Brenden Bratcher made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run over seven innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Warren East is 4-2 when he allows at most one earned run, but 4-11 otherwise. Bratcher was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs and one stolen base.
In other batting news, William Alexander was excellent, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base and two RBI.
Warren East hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. The team has now struck out at least five batters in six consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Franklin-Simpson made easy work of Todd County Central on Tuesday and carried off an 11-5 win. The result was nothing new for the Wildcats, who have now won nine matchups by six runs or more so far this season.
Max Wren looked comfortable as he tossed three innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit. He has been consistent: he hasn't given up more than two hits in five consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Boy Blanckenberg, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs, two RBI, and one double. Those two RBI gave him a new career-high. Braylon Turner was another key player, going 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI.
Franklin-Simpson is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine games. That's provided a nice bump to their 17-11 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.4 runs on average over those games. As for Warren East, their win bumped their record up to 8-13.
Warren East beat Franklin-Simpson 4-0 when the teams last played on Thursday. Will the Raiders repeat their success, or do the Wildcats have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
