Northshore faced Central in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. Northshore sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 5-4 win over Central. The victory was familiar territory for the Panthers, who have now won three matchups in a row.

Connor Smith
03/21/25 vs Central | 3 |
03/18/25 @ Zachary | 2 |
03/13/25 vs Destrehan | 2 |
02/15/25 @ John Curtis Christian | 2 |
02/14/25 vs East Jefferson | 2 |
Connor Smith made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out six batters over 5.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. That's the fewest earned runs he has allowed over his last four games. He was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 3-for-3 with one RBI. Those three hits gave him a new career-high.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Aviel Johnson, who scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. That's the most stolen bases he has posted since back in February. Brody Dukes was another key player, scoring a run while going 3-for-4.
Northshore pushed their record up to 20-4-1 with the win, which was their third straight at home. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to hits: they averaged an imposing 9.33 hits in those games compared to only 4.59 in the others. As for Central, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 16-6.
Northshore has already played their next contest (against Salmen), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. As for Central, a feisty cat fight will be fought as Central Wildcats take on Woodlawn-B.R. Panthers at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. The matchup will give they their first taste of in-conference action this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps