The Elk County Catholic Crusaders are taking a road trip to face off against the St. Marys Flying Dutch at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday. Elk County Catholic will be looking to extend their current 12-game winning streak.
Elk County Catholic's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They walked away with a 5-0 victory over Kane.
Lance O'Neill made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over seven innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in March. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs.
Chase Simbeck
| 05/12/25 vs Kane | 3 |
| 05/08/25 @ Smethport | 2 |
| 05/07/25 vs Brockway | 2 |
| 05/21/24 vs Keystone | 2 |
| 05/16/24 vs St. Marys | 2 |
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Chase Simbeck, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, one run, and one double. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Wyatt Brem, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, St. Marys waltzed into their game on Monday with two straight wins... but they left with three. Everything went their way against the Owls as they made off with a 13-4 win. The result was nothing new for the Flying Dutch, who have now won six contests by six runs or more so far this season.
Like Elk County Catholic, St. Marys also got a great game from a two-way player: Ben Paul. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing four innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Paul was even better at the plate, going 4-for-5 with five RBI, one run, and one double. St. Marys is undefeated when Paul posts three or more hits, but 5-8 otherwise.
In other batting news, TYSEN BEIMEL was incredible, going 3-for-4 with three runs and one RBI. He has become a key player for St. Marys: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 4-8 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Reynolds, who went 1-for-5 with three runs and one triple.
St. Marys kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 13 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least 12 hits in three consecutive matchups.
Elk County Catholic pushed their record up to 14-3 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.8 runs on average over those games. As for St. Marys, their record now sits at 10-8.
Elk County Catholic beat St. Marys 8-3 in their previous matchup two weeks ago. Will the Crusaders repeat their success, or do the Flying Dutch have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
