After both having extra time off, the Wayland Wildcats and the South Christian Sailors will shake off the cobwebs and hit the field against one another at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Wayland has three straight wins, South Christian has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Wayland barely beat Union the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Wildcats blew past the Red Hawks 11-3 back in March.
Wayland got a great performance from Will Lodenstein as he struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits.
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| 03/27/25 - Home | 4 |
| 03/26/25 - Away | 2 |
| 03/26/25 - Away | 1 |
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Bredan Byrne, who scored two runs and stole four bases while going 1-for-3. Byrne is crushing it when it comes to stolen bases: he's snagged at least one every time he's taken the field this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Trent Sikkema, who scored a run and stole three bases while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, South Christian fell victim to Byron Center and their airtight pitching crew two weeks ago. They lost 6-0 to the Bulldogs. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest defeat the Sailors have suffered since March 25, 2024.
Wayland pushed their record up to 3-0 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.8 runs on average over those games. As for South Christian, their loss dropped their record down to 1-3.
South Christian's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Wayland hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .425. It's a different story for South Christian, though, as they've only averaged .245. Will they be able to contain Wayland's hitters?
Wayland was able to grind out a solid victory over South Christian in their previous meeting back in June of 2024, winning 6-2. Do the Wildcats have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Sailors turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
