The Easton Area Rovers will venture away from home to face off against the Freedom Patriots at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Easton Area 1.2, Freedom 1.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Easton Area proved they can win big on Tuesday (they won by seven) and on Wednesday they proved they can win the close ones too. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Stroudsburg a 1-0 shutout. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Rovers have posted since April 18, 2024.
Zach Mattes
| 03/26/25 vs Stroudsburg | 9 |
| 04/24/24 @ Freedom | 5 |
| 04/10/24 vs Parkland | 5 |
| 03/19/25 @ Allentown Central Catholic | 4 |
| 04/28/24 @ Allentown Central Catholic | 2 |
The result came thanks to Zach Mattes's shutout, as he gave up just two hits and racked up nine Ks. Those nine strikeouts gave him a new career-high.
On the hitting side, Easton Area's win was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Max Martenis, who went 2-for-3 with one RBI. Kurtis Crossman also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.
Meanwhile, Freedom won against Parkland on Thursday with six runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Wednesday. Freedom beat Pocono Mountain East by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 6-1. The victory was familiar territory for the Patriots, who have now won three contests in a row.
Michael Horvath spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on five hits and racked up ten Ks. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in walks (zero).
At the plate, Santiago Rodriguez was excellent, scoring a run while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Michael Cobb, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base and two RBI.
The win (which was Easton Area's third in a row) raised their record to 3-1. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.3 runs on average over those games. As for Freedom, their record is now 3-1.
Easton Area couldn't quite finish off Freedom in their previous meeting back in April of 2024 and fell 6-4. Can Easton Area avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
