With a playoff game on the line, Lake Central rose to the challenge on Saturday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Merrillville Pirates a 10-0 shutout. The win was nothing new for Lake Central as they're now sitting on four straight.
Grant Mercer looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out six over four innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Lake Central let Ryder Fernandez and Nick Robinson loose on the outfield. Fernandez scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances, while Robinson scored two runs and stole three bases while going 1-for-2. Robinson has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Michael Szatkowski, who scored a run while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
Lake Central has been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 12 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 20-9 record this season. As for Merrillville, their loss dropped their record down to 5-19.
Lake Central will be staying on the road on Monday to face off against Hobart at 11:00 a.m. Both teams will come into the game having just posted big wins, so someone is set to suffer a big change in fortunes. Merrillville does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
