Notre Dame hasn't had much luck against East Stroudsburg South recently, but that could start to change on Saturday. The Spartans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Cavaliers at 12:00 p.m. The two teams are strolling into their contests after big wins in their previous games.
Notre Dame made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Lincoln Leadership Academy, but they still couldn't quite topple them. The Spartans put the hurt on the Lions with a sharp 21-10 victory on Tuesday. With that win, the Spartans brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Lucas Vega made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over 3.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off five hits (and not a single walk). Those eight strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was even better at the plate, scoring five runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in five of his six plate appearances.
In other batting news, Notre Dame got a massive performance out of Aidan Acosta, who scored five runs and stole five bases while getting on base in five of his six plate appearances. Those five runs gave Acosta a new career-high. Daniel Bordas was another key player, scoring three runs and stealing four bases while going 4-for-5.
Notre Dame always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .692. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask East Stroudsburg South). They blew past Bangor 14-4 on Thursday. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory the Cavaliers have posted against the Slaters since April 24, 2015.
Aidan Cruz was incredible, going a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, three RBI, and one triple. That triple marked the first that he hit this season. Another player making a difference was Alex Perez, who scored three runs while going 2-for-3.
East Stroudsburg South is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.8 runs on average over those games. Notre Dame's first victory this season bumped their record up to 1-4.
East Stroudsburg South's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Notre Dame hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .316. It's a different story for East Stroudsburg South, though, as they've only averaged .257. Will they be able to contain Notre Dame's hitters?
Notre Dame suffered a grim 12-2 defeat to East Stroudsburg South when the teams last played back in April of 2023. Will the Spartans have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.
