The St. Joseph Central Irish will venture away from home to face off against the Tug Valley Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
St. Joseph Central's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Saturday. They were the clear victors by a 12-0 margin over Tolsia. Considering the Irish have won 11 contests by more than five runs this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
Cam Kellar was incredible, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs, one triple, and one stolen base. Another player making a difference was Wyatt Pence, who went 1-for-2 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI.
St. Joseph Central was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .393. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Tolsia only posted a batting average of .067.
Meanwhile, after only one run in their last game, Tug Valley made sure to put some runs up on the board against WestSide on Saturday. The Panthers put the hurt on the Renegades with a sharp 10-3 win. The Panthers haven't had any issues with the Renegades recently, as the game was their third consecutive victory against them.
Chandler Copley was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing 3.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Gavin Fitzpatrick, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with four stolen bases, two runs, and two doubles. He has become a key player for Tug Valley: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 4-13 otherwise. Dawson Richardson was another key player, going 3-for-5 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one double.
St. Joseph Central is on a roll lately: they've won 13 of their last 14 matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 19-5 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.2 runs on average over those games. As for Tug Valley, their record now sits at 10-13.
St. Joseph Central took their victory against Tug Valley in their previous matchup back in April by a conclusive 9-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Irish since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
