Baseball Game Preview: Galatia/Thompsonville Bearcats vs. Meridian Bobcats

A feisty cat fight will be fought as Galatia/Thompsonville Bearcats challenge Meridian Bobcats at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Galatia/Thompsonville has three straight wins, Meridian has 13 straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Galatia/Thompsonville barely beat Cobden the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. Galatia/Thompsonville's pitchers stepped up to hand Cobden an 11-0 shutout on Friday. With that victory, the Bearcats brought their scoring average up to 6.8 runs per game.

Eli Hankins made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out ten over five innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April of 2024. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three RBI and one double. That double was his first of the season.

In other pitching news, Braxton Householder looked comfortable as he tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits.

Back at the plate, Colin Jenkins and Brayden Gaither did most of the damage at the plate: Jenkins scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances, while Gaither went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two RBI. That's the most stolen bases Jenkins has posted since back in April of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of AJ Downing, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with three stolen bases and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Meridian came up short against Gallatin County on Thursday, falling 16-2.

Galatia/Thompsonville pushed their record up to 3-1 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.7 runs on average over those games. As for Meridian, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-2.