The Wayne Trace Raiders will square off against the Heritage Patriots at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Wayne Trace 2.6, Heritage 2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Heritage will take on a team with plenty of momentum: Wayne Trace extended their winning streak to five on Thursday. The Raiders came out on top against Ayersville by a score of 6-2.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Heritage). Everything went their way against Fort Wayne South Side on Thursday as they made off with a 12-2 win. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
Lucas Taylor and Beau Stoppenhagen were major factors no matter where they played. On the mound, Taylor tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Meanwhile, Stoppenhagen tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one walk in three consecutive appearances. At the plate, Taylor went 3-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and one stolen base, while Stoppenhagen went 1-for-3 with one stolen base and one run. Those three runs gave Taylor a new career-high.
In other batting news, Max Mirelez and Kingston Galentine did most of the damage at the plate: Mirelez got on base in all four of his plate appearances with one home run and one stolen base, while Galentine went 2-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. Those two RBI gave Galentine a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Jaxon Feasby, who went 1-for-3 with three RBI and one stolen base.
Heritage was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .400. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Fort Wayne South Side only posted a batting average of .167.
Heritage's win bumped their record up to 4-1. As for Wayne Trace, their victory bumped their record up to 7-3.
Wayne Trace got the 'W' in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 against Heritage by a conclusive 8-1 score. Will the Raiders repeat their success, or do the Patriots have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
