The New Palestine Dragons will take on the Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with New Palestine sitting on ten straight wins and Guerin Catholic on eight.
New Palestine is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. Everything went their way against Cascade as they made off with a 9-1 victory. Considering the Dragons have won 13 games by more than five runs this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
Rigg Mahurin made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out nine over seven innings pitched. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with two runs.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Jacob Morris, who went 3-for-5 with one home run, four RBI, and two runs. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in May. Jackson Kamp was another key player, going 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, one run, and one double.
New Palestine always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .545. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Cascade only posted an OBP of .160.
Meanwhile, Guerin Catholic had just enough and edged out Cathedral 5-4 on Saturday.
Finn Holden looked comfortable as he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He also tossed a walk, which is notable because Guerin Catholic is 10-2 when he allows at most two walks, but 8-10 otherwise.
At the plate, Ben Canada and Ian Taylor did most of the damage at the plate: Canada got on base in four of his five plate appearances with two RBI, one run, and one double, while Taylor went 2-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one RBI. Another player making a difference was Karson Smith, who got on base in three of his five plate appearances with one RBI.
Guerin Catholic's win bumped their record up to 18-12. As for New Palestine, their victory bumped their record up to 24-3.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. New Palestine hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.6 home runs per game. However, it's not like Guerin Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 0.5 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
New Palestine took their win against Guerin Catholic in their previous matchup back in April of 2023 by a conclusive 10-0 score. Will the Dragons repeat their success, or do the Golden Eagles have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
