Baseball Game Preview: West Lafayette Red Devils vs. Merrillville Pirates

West Lafayette has gone 7-2 against Merrillville recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Saturday. The Red Devils will face off against the Pirates at 11:00 a.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

Things were looking good for West Lafayette after they put the first run on the board on Thursday, but unfortunately for them things went downhill from there. They fell just short of Lafayette Jefferson by a score of 5-4.

Ben Werth

Hits

04/22/25 @ Lafayette Central Catholic	4
05/22/25 @ Lafayette Jefferson	3
04/30/25 @ Benton Central	3
04/18/25 vs Logansport	3
05/13/25 @ Harrison	2
+ 9 more games

Ben Werth was huge no matter where he played even without the win. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing 5.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off one hit. That's the fewest hits he has allowed since back in April. He was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one triple, two RBI, and one run. West Lafayette is 3-1 when Werth posts three or more hits, but 6-10 otherwise.

Werth wasn't the only one making solid contact as two players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Joe Doty, who went 1-for-3 with one run.

Meanwhile, Merrillville was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They took a 6-3 hit to the loss column at the hands of Hammond Bishop Noll.

Merrillville's record is now 4-20. As for West Lafayette, they have been struggling recently as they've lost five of their last six contests. That's put a noticeable dent in their 9-11 record this season.

West Lafayette came out on top in a nail-biter against Merrillville in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, sneaking past 9-8. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Red Devils since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.