The Wheeler Bearcats will be playing in front of their home fans against the Merrillville Pirates at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Wheeler is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 8.9 runs per game this season.
Last Tuesday, Wheeler earned a 13-8 win over Hammond Bishop Noll. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Wheeler.
Keegan Kuehl was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He pitched four innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off two hits. Kuehl has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. Kuehl was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 1-for-4.
In other batting news, Wheeler got a massive performance out of Jackson Smith, who went 1-for-3 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs. Braydon Prskalo was another key contributor, scoring two runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances.
Meanwhile, after soaring to ten runs the game before, Merrillville was a bit more limited in their game on Wednesday. They took a 5-2 hit to the loss column at the hands of Portage. Merrillville has not had much luck with Portage recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Wheeler is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. As for Merrillville, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-8.
Wheeler couldn't quite finish off Merrillville in their previous meeting back in April of 2023 and fell 2-0. Thankfully for Wheeler, Colin Early (who didn't allow a single earned run while striking out nine over seven innings pitched) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
