The Vanguard Knights will venture away from home to take on the Forest Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Vanguard's pitching crew has only allowed 3.6 runs per game this season, so Forest's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Vanguard easily dispatched West Port on Tuesday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. Vanguard fell just short of North Marion by a score of 7-5 on Thursday. The Knights have struggled against the Colts recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive lost meetings.
Vanguard saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Bobby Blanco, who scored a run and stole Three bases. while going 1-for-3. Clayton ?CT? Antonucci also deserves some recognition as he launched his first home run of the season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Forest). They never let West Port get on the board and left with an 18-0 victory on Thursday. With that win, the Wildcats brought their scoring average up to 6.5 runs per game.
Samuel Baderschneider looked comfortable as he tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. He has been consistent : he hasn't given up more than two walks any time he's pitched this season.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Dillon Grace, who got on base in all five of his plate appearances with one home run, three runs, and three RBI. He is becoming a predictor of Forest's success: when he posts at least one home run the team is undefeated (and 3-5 when he doesn't). Javier Molina was another key player, scoring three runs while going 3-for-4.
Forest was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .440. They are a perfect 3-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.
Forest has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. Vanguard's defeat dropped their record down to 7-2.
Vanguard suffered a grim 10-0 defeat to Forest in their previous meeting back in April of 2024. Can Vanguard avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
