Penncrest is 1-9 against Strath Haven since May of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Penncrest Lions will be playing in front of their home fans against the Strath Haven Panthers at 4:15 p.m. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
If Penncrest beats Strath Haven with five runs on Monday, it's going to be the squad's new lucky number: they've won their past two matchups with that exact score. Penncrest had just enough and edged Interboro out 5-4. The win made it back-to-back victories for Penncrest.
Michael Pagliaccetti looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.
On the hitting side, Jacey Fox was excellent, scoring a run while going 2-for-2. Nash Grant was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-2.
Meanwhile, Strath Haven put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Wednesday. They put the hurt on Springfield with a sharp 13-2 win.
Strath Haven also got a great performance from Rob Mattai as he tossed five innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits.
At the plate, Zane Malarkey was incredible, going 4-for-5 with a home run, five RBI, and three runs. Another player making a difference was Ben Milligan, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3.
Penncrest pushed their record up to 12-6 with that victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for Strath Haven, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-3 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Penncrest has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Strath Haven struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.4. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Penncrest couldn't quite finish off Strath Haven when the teams last played back in April and fell 2-0. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Strath Haven's Luke D'Ancona, who didn't allow a single earned run while striking out 14 over 6.1 innings pitched. Now that Penncrest knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
