The Whitefish Bay Blue Dukes will challenge the West Bend East Suns on Tuesday. Whitefish Bay's pitching crew has only allowed 2.8 runs per game this season, so West Bend East's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Whitefish Bay is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Wisconsin's top teams: Germantown, who was ranked tenth at the time (Whitefish Bay was ranked sixth). The Blue Dukes fell just short of the Warhawks by a score of 4-3 on Friday. The Blue Dukes' loss signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only West Bend East walked away with it. Everything went their way against the Hawks on Thursday as they made off with a 23-2 victory. The Suns' hitters stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most runs they've scored all season.
Colton Multerer made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out six over four innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, four RBI, and two runs. He has become a key player for West Bend East: the team is 4-2 when he posts at least two runs, but 2-18 otherwise.
In other batting news, West Bend East got a big performance out of Jonah Kluck, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI, one run, and one double. Those three hits gave Kluck a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Hesse, who went 1-for-2 with two stolen bases and three runs.
West Bend East always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .643. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
The win made it two in a row for West Bend East and bumps their season record up to 6-20. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 17.0 runs over those games. As for Whitefish Bay, their defeat dropped their record down to 20-6.
Whitefish Bay skirted past West Bend East 5-4 in their previous matchup on May 14th. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Blue Dukes since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
