St. Mary Central Catholic is on a three-game streak of home wins, while Hopewell-Loudon is on a seven-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The St. Mary Central Catholic Panthers will take on the Hopewell-Loudon Chieftains at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
St. Mary Central Catholic will bounce into Friday's matchup after beating Calvert, who they hadn't topped in nine consecutive meetings. St. Mary Central Catholic came out on top in a nail-biter against Calvert on Thursday and snuck past 4-2.
Reid Wikel spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on two hits.
Meanwhile, Hopewell-Loudon stacked a tenth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Wednesday. They were the clear victor by an 18-2 margin over St. Joseph Central Catholic.
Matt Wyman was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out six batters over four innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits (and only one walk). Wyman has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances. Wyman was also big at the plate, scoring a run while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Caine McDonald was incredible, going 4-for-4 with four RBI, two runs, and two doubles. Another player making a difference was Cohen Sendelbach, who went 1-for-4 with two runs, a triple, and a stolen base.
St. Mary Central Catholic has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 11-11-1 record this season. As for Hopewell-Loudon, their win bumped their record up to 17-4.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. St. Mary Central Catholic has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.7 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Hopewell-Loudon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3. The only question left is which team can snag more.
St. Mary Central Catholic suffered a grim 19-4 defeat to Hopewell-Loudon when the teams last played back in April. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sendelbach, who kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out eight over four innings pitched. Now that St. Mary Central Catholic knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
