The Tampa Catholic Crusaders will square off against the Bishop McLaughlin Catholic Hurricanes at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Tampa Catholic 2.8, Bishop McLaughlin Catholic 3.9) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Tampa Catholic is headed into the matchup having just suffered their closest loss since March 18th on Thursday. They fell just short of Calvary Christian by a score of 3-1. The Crusaders have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Meanwhile, two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Bishop McLaughlin Catholic walked away with it. They were the clear victors by a 9-3 margin over the Phoenix on Monday. The Hurricanes might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven contests by six runs or more this season.
Dylan McNeil tossed a big game, striking out six batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits (and only one walk). He is becoming a predictor of Bishop McLaughlin Catholic's success: when he allows at most one earned run the team is 4-2 (and 7-10 when he doesn't).
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jadin Soto, who scored three runs while going 2-for-3. Bishop McLaughlin Catholic is undefeated when Soto posts two or more runs, but 8-12 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Keith Jacobs, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
The win made it two in a row for Bishop McLaughlin Catholic and bumps their season record up to 11-12. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.5 runs over those games. As for Tampa Catholic, their defeat dropped their record down to 18-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Tampa Catholic has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Bishop McLaughlin Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.6 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Everything went Tampa Catholic's way against Bishop McLaughlin Catholic when the teams last played back in March, as Tampa Catholic made off with an 11-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Crusaders since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
