The Manteno Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the Wilmington Wildcats at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Wednesday, Manteno beat Coal City 5-2. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Manteno.
Connor Harrod spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on four hits. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Manteno's victory was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Tyler Buehler, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, Wilmington had already won 18 in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.8 runs), and they went ahead and made it 19 on Tuesday. They never let the Bulldogs onto the board and left with a 12-0 win. Considering Wilmington has won 14 matches by more than five runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Kyle Farrell was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out eight over six innings pitched. Farrell was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, Wilmington got a massive performance out of Joe Allgood, who scored a run while going 2-for-2. Another player making a difference was Lucas Rink, who scored two runs while going 3-for-4.
Manteno has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which somehow isn't as good as their 18-5 record this season. As for Wilmington, their victory was their 11th straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 21-1.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Thursday as neither team is afraid to steal. Manteno has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.1 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Wilmington struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.2. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Manteno suffered a grim 11-2 defeat to Wilmington when the teams last played on Thursday. Can Manteno 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
