The Lamphere Rams will challenge the Athens Red Hawks at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Lamphere didn't have quite enough to beat L'Anse Creuse North and fell 7-6. The Rams haven't had much luck with the Crusaders recently, as the team has come up short the last four times they've met.
Aidan Grzsikowski was huge while hitting and pitching even without the win. On the mound, he tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up a single earned run in six consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-6 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI.
Grzsikowski wasn't the only one making solid contact as six players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Cormick Whalen, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Athens). They never let University Liggett get on the board and left with a 27-0 win on Tuesday. With that victory, the Red Hawks brought their scoring average up to 6.4 runs per game.
Like Lamphere, Athens also got a great game from a two-way player: Derek Smith. On the mound, Smith pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Meanwhile, Macklin Ciurla tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Athens is 2-1 when he allows at most three earned runs, but 5-10 otherwise. At bat, Smith went 1-for-2 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI, while Ciurla went 1-for-2 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI. That's the most stolen bases Ciurla has posted since back in April.
In other batting news, Athens got a massive performance out of Ty Manning, who got on base in four of his five plate appearances with four runs, two stolen bases, and three RBI. Those three RBI gave Manning a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Grayson Conrad, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with four RBI, two runs, and one triple.
Athens was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .533. They are 3-1 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.
The win was the third in a row for Athens, bringing their record up to 7-11. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.0 runs over those games. As for Lamphere, their defeat dropped their record down to 19-9.
Lamphere might still be hurting after the 16-4 loss they got from Athens in their previous meeting back in April. Can the Rams avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
