The Palmyra Cougars will square off against the Hershey Trojans at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Palmyra comes in on 11 and Hershey on four.
Palmyra took a seven-run loss the last time they faced off against Red Land, but this time they managed to keep it close and that made all the difference. The Cougars never let the Patriots get on the board and left with a 1-0 win on Monday. The one-run effort marked the Cougars' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Blake Deiter looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run over four innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one walk in three consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Tyler Peck was excellent, going 1-for-2 with one home run.
Meanwhile, Hershey posted their closest victory since March 18th on Tuesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 5-4 win over Carlisle. Five seems to be a good number for the Trojans as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Sean Callahan made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing one inning while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Callahan was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Bennett Sheppard, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Grant Later also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.
Hershey was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .375. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .346 or higher in four consecutive games.
Hershey pushed their record up to 7-3 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.8 runs over those games. As for Palmyra, their record is now 11-0.
Palmyra beat Hershey 4-1 in their previous meeting back in March. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Cougars since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
