St Georges (6-3) @ Malvern Prep (10-4). Malvern Prep returns back to Delaware after missing the 2015-2016 season. They last played Sallies in 2014, beating them 5-1 in a pitchers duel that got broken open with MP scoring 4 runs in the 6th inning. In 2013, Malvern got beat by Sallies and Caravel. In 2012 MP beat both Sallies and Caravel by big scores. Malvern was 29-6 last season and lost in the PA State championship. The previous two years they were state champs. St Georges coming off a 27-0 throttling of a weak Dickinson squad. But if your thinking that St Georges runs were a mirage against a weaker opponent. Think again. ST Georges hasn’t scored any fewer than 7 runs in a game this season. They are averaging 14 runs per game. If your thinking that they do play in a weak division overall….well that might be true but St G put up 8 on Sallies, 12 on Milford and 10 on Mtown. St G’s defense/pitching is hard to gauge. They have four shutouts this year, but they were against McKean, Christiana, Dickinson and Wm Penn. They allowed 10 to Sallies, 8 to Glasgow and 18 Mtown. I think St G is going to have its hands full against a team that has been to the last three PA state championship games.
Dover (8-1) @ Cape (5-4). Huge Henlopen North rival game. Dover is leading the conference with a 7-0 record while Cape is right behind them with a 4-2 conference record. Its still a little early to say a game is a “must win”, but Cape can’t afford another conference lost. They have Poly tomorrow and Seaford, Tech and Delmar after that. Cape is coming off a continuation game against Smyrna losing 3-2. But they have been off for a week and should be well rested. At this point anyone could take the mound for Cape, but Elliott could get the ball. He is 3-0 on the season. Cape has deep pitching and is also putting up nearly 8 runs a game on average. Dover has been overlooked based on its lack of competition thus far, but lets remember they beat Smryna and Poly this season so far. Velazquez is 6-0 on the season and hasn’t pitched in a week. Dover is well rested as well. This should be best on best, so its clearly the game of the day. Dover blanked Cape last year 10-0 behind Lawson’s 2h, beating Erickson on the mound for Cape. Dover beat Cape as well in 2015, 9-5 and 2014, 10-3.
DMA (7-3) @ Archmere (5-4). DMA and Archmere play in a non-conference matchup today. DMA is just 2-2 in its last four games, losing a close one to Conrad 2-1, beating Newark 2-1, losing to NC 5-0 and beating Wm Penn 7-1. Archmere has won 3 of its last 4, only losing to Conrad 5-3. DMA is led by Michael Serafin who has leads the state with 5 dingers on the season. Despite the bombs though, DMA is scoring 5 runs per game on average but more specifically in the past 5 games they have only scored 14 total runs. Now to be fair, DMA has only allowed 11 runs total over those five games as well. Archmere is scoring and allowing pretty much the exact amount runs so far this season as DMA is. In Fact, Arch & DMA have a lot of similarities. They both beat Newark in a close games; they both lost to Newark Charter; both lost close games to Conrad. DMA beat Archmere in both games they played each other last year. Danz beat Archmere early in the season throwing a 1 hit, complete game shutout. In the second game, Smith & Kohan shut down Arch 11-3.
Seaford (5-4) @ Delmar (8-2). Seaford is having a great season, especially considering they are coming off back to back 3-win seasons. They are also within striking distance of make a run at the conference title. They are 3-4 in the conference, trailing Delmar (4-2) and Milford (5-2). Seaford plays both over the next couple of weeks. Seaford has been a little inconsistent but they are a scrappy team that can’t be taken lightly. Seaford beat Poly 2-0 and lost to Dover and CR by only a run. But on the flip side they got dominated by IR 9-1 and crushed by Smyrna 17-2. They are a work in progress, but with a senior laden team, they need to get things done this year. Evan Nibblett has been great on the mound. He is 4-0 and has three shutouts, including a 3 hit shutout of Polytech. Seaford can hit the ball some as well, they are averaging scoring almost 7 runs per game. Looking through the stats though, they have scored 41 runs in 3 games…the other 6 games , just 20 runs. Delmar is 8-2. Ironically they have wins over Smyrna and Central, but lost to both Woodbridge and Laurel????? My only knock against them is that in 10 games, they have only played 1 team ranked in the top 20. To put it in perspective, most teams in the top 20 have played at least 3 or 4 games against other top 20 members. In fairness to Delmar, their final 8 games are against 5 top 20 teams (Tech, Cape, Dover, Poly, Milford) and also play Seaford, CR and a good Parkside team. Delmar is tough on both sides of the ball. They are averaging around 10 runs per game at the plate. And with the ball, they have only allowed 22 runs all season. Again looking through the numbers…Delmar gave up 10 runs to Laurel last week. Remove that one game, and Delmar is just allowing 12 runs TOTAL in the other 9 games. Adkins is very good at 2-1 as well as Vonarx. Seaford actually beat Delmar last year 11-7.
Wilmington Christian (4-3) @ Newark Charter (7-2). Wilmington Christian has only played 2 games since April 4th. Both losses to Arch and Tower Hill. WC doesn’t have it easy coming up. They have 2 against NC, two against DMA, Conrad, Archmere…WC is getting decent pitching and defense. They have only allowed 24 runs in 7 games. At the plate is where things need to improve to make a run. They have scored 39 runs this season in 7 games (5.6 per game) which isn’t too shabby, but 26 of those runs were scored in two of the games. So its just 13 runs scored total in the other 5 games. Newark Charter is playing very well. They are 7-2 with wins over Sallies, Archmere, DMA. They lost a close one to St E and in the first game of the season had Appo down 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth before giving up 4 runs and losing 5-3. 6 of their 9 games were tight games in which they went 4-2. Winners find ways to win games. Newark Charter has a lot of good pitching and can hit the ball. WC will have its hands full against a rising team. NC beat WC twice last season (13-1 and 4-3). Kelby shutdown WC in the first game, while the bats went crazy. Kelby and Chopko pitched well against Rettig, who also pitched well in the second game last year.
Dover (8-1) @ Cape (5-4). Huge Henlopen North rival game. Dover is leading the conference with a 7-0 record while Cape is right behind them with a 4-2 conference record. Its still a little early to say a game is a “must win”, but Cape can’t afford another conference lost. They have Poly tomorrow and Seaford, Tech and Delmar after that. Cape is coming off a continuation game against Smyrna losing 3-2. But they have been off for a week and should be well rested. At this point anyone could take the mound for Cape, but Elliott could get the ball. He is 3-0 on the season. Cape has deep pitching and is also putting up nearly 8 runs a game on average. Dover has been overlooked based on its lack of competition thus far, but lets remember they beat Smryna and Poly this season so far. Velazquez is 6-0 on the season and hasn’t pitched in a week. Dover is well rested as well. This should be best on best, so its clearly the game of the day. Dover blanked Cape last year 10-0 behind Lawson’s 2h, beating Erickson on the mound for Cape. Dover beat Cape as well in 2015, 9-5 and 2014, 10-3.
DMA (7-3) @ Archmere (5-4). DMA and Archmere play in a non-conference matchup today. DMA is just 2-2 in its last four games, losing a close one to Conrad 2-1, beating Newark 2-1, losing to NC 5-0 and beating Wm Penn 7-1. Archmere has won 3 of its last 4, only losing to Conrad 5-3. DMA is led by Michael Serafin who has leads the state with 5 dingers on the season. Despite the bombs though, DMA is scoring 5 runs per game on average but more specifically in the past 5 games they have only scored 14 total runs. Now to be fair, DMA has only allowed 11 runs total over those five games as well. Archmere is scoring and allowing pretty much the exact amount runs so far this season as DMA is. In Fact, Arch & DMA have a lot of similarities. They both beat Newark in a close games; they both lost to Newark Charter; both lost close games to Conrad. DMA beat Archmere in both games they played each other last year. Danz beat Archmere early in the season throwing a 1 hit, complete game shutout. In the second game, Smith & Kohan shut down Arch 11-3.
Seaford (5-4) @ Delmar (8-2). Seaford is having a great season, especially considering they are coming off back to back 3-win seasons. They are also within striking distance of make a run at the conference title. They are 3-4 in the conference, trailing Delmar (4-2) and Milford (5-2). Seaford plays both over the next couple of weeks. Seaford has been a little inconsistent but they are a scrappy team that can’t be taken lightly. Seaford beat Poly 2-0 and lost to Dover and CR by only a run. But on the flip side they got dominated by IR 9-1 and crushed by Smyrna 17-2. They are a work in progress, but with a senior laden team, they need to get things done this year. Evan Nibblett has been great on the mound. He is 4-0 and has three shutouts, including a 3 hit shutout of Polytech. Seaford can hit the ball some as well, they are averaging scoring almost 7 runs per game. Looking through the stats though, they have scored 41 runs in 3 games…the other 6 games , just 20 runs. Delmar is 8-2. Ironically they have wins over Smyrna and Central, but lost to both Woodbridge and Laurel????? My only knock against them is that in 10 games, they have only played 1 team ranked in the top 20. To put it in perspective, most teams in the top 20 have played at least 3 or 4 games against other top 20 members. In fairness to Delmar, their final 8 games are against 5 top 20 teams (Tech, Cape, Dover, Poly, Milford) and also play Seaford, CR and a good Parkside team. Delmar is tough on both sides of the ball. They are averaging around 10 runs per game at the plate. And with the ball, they have only allowed 22 runs all season. Again looking through the numbers…Delmar gave up 10 runs to Laurel last week. Remove that one game, and Delmar is just allowing 12 runs TOTAL in the other 9 games. Adkins is very good at 2-1 as well as Vonarx. Seaford actually beat Delmar last year 11-7.
Wilmington Christian (4-3) @ Newark Charter (7-2). Wilmington Christian has only played 2 games since April 4th. Both losses to Arch and Tower Hill. WC doesn’t have it easy coming up. They have 2 against NC, two against DMA, Conrad, Archmere…WC is getting decent pitching and defense. They have only allowed 24 runs in 7 games. At the plate is where things need to improve to make a run. They have scored 39 runs this season in 7 games (5.6 per game) which isn’t too shabby, but 26 of those runs were scored in two of the games. So its just 13 runs scored total in the other 5 games. Newark Charter is playing very well. They are 7-2 with wins over Sallies, Archmere, DMA. They lost a close one to St E and in the first game of the season had Appo down 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth before giving up 4 runs and losing 5-3. 6 of their 9 games were tight games in which they went 4-2. Winners find ways to win games. Newark Charter has a lot of good pitching and can hit the ball. WC will have its hands full against a rising team. NC beat WC twice last season (13-1 and 4-3). Kelby shutdown WC in the first game, while the bats went crazy. Kelby and Chopko pitched well against Rettig, who also pitched well in the second game last year.
