Caravel (3-2) @ St Marks (6-1). GAME OF THE DAY - Privates. This is an epic battle of two of the most successful teams in the state. Its no surprise that both teams are in the top five this year, like most years. In the past 13 years either St Marks (8) or Caravel (3) have won 11 of the championships. In those 13 years, Caravel and St Marks played each other in the championship game 3 times, with St Marks winning 2. Caravel has won 2 straight against St Marks including last year 5-2 and 8-0 in the 2014 Championship game but they are split 5-5 in their last 10 mtgs on the field. Now back to the present…Caravel in their first 5 games this season have only played two Delaware teams. They lost 3-1 to Sallies and won 2-1 over Cape. They most recently blew a 5-0 lead over Buena (NJ) to lose late 9-5. Caravel is arguably the best team in the state with their pitching staff, but they are beatable. They have only scored 17 runs this year while giving up 18. Keeping in mind they probably have played the toughest schedule, playing 5 competitive games. On the mound, Fraley is probably is best in the state. But I think Reich from St Marks could be a good argument as well. Caravel hasn’t scored a lot, but they know how to win and manufacture runs. Uncharacteristically they have had 10 errors the past 2 games though and 16 total over 5 games. St Marks has had a great start winning their first 6 games with great pitching and tons of offense. In those 6 games they were scoring over 10 runs per game on average and only allowing 8 total runs. But it wasn’t the toughest of schedules playing a struggling Hodgson, CR, ST E twice, IR and Archmere. Then on Monday they played their toughest competition to date, losing in a great 10 inning matchup with Appo. For today’s game, I’m not aware of the pitcher matchups, but St Marks has a rested Reich available along with some other depth on the mound. For Caravel, Fraley just started on Monday and threw 57 pitches while Carney and Marenco each put in thirty-some pitches. Silan threw well against Cape last friday, but did have 87 pitches. Not sure how fresh the arms are at Caravel today. Gotta give St Marks the edge.
Smyrna (5-0) @ Middletown (5-1). GAME OF THE DAY – Publics. Another great matchup today. Undefeated Smyrna takes a somewhat short ride “all the way” upstate to visit Mtown. Smyrna played a great game against Appo two weeks ago, winning in extras. They followed that up with a 3-2 win over Dover right after that. In their other 3 games, Smyrna has dominated, outscoring Delmar, IR & Laurel 25-1. Carrow and Barkley have pitched really well for Smyrna. Neither has pitched in 8 days, so they should both be well rested and Smryna doesn’t play again until next Tuesday against Seaford. Smyrna’s bats have been popping as well averaging 7 runs per game. Middletown has also had a good start in 2016. They were a little disappointing in their 12-4 loss to Cape, but they have battled it out with extra inning wins over DMA & Sussex Tech and were pretty dominant in wins over Hodgson and Concord. Mtown struggled with Newark needing to come from behind late winning 4-3. Mtown doesn’t have the arms, but they are awfully scrappy. They are winning close games. Unfortunately I think Mtown is well overmatched today. I’m not sure they have the arms to shut down Smyrna’s bats and if Carrow/Barkley are pitching well hits could be in short supply.
DMA (6-1) @ Conrad (6-1). With the other big games upstate today, this game might go unnoticed. DMA, after their late game let down against Mtown in the first game, have won six straight games. Their competition hasn’t been top ten teams, but they have beaten some decent teams in Mt P, Glasgow, Charter, Wilmington Christian and Tower Hill. DMA has gotten decent pitching this year from Danz, Kohan & Smith allowing around 3 runs per game. DMA’s bats have been pretty hot running up almost 10 runs per game. Conrad has played equally as well. They started 5-0, then faltered with a disappointing loss to St E 4-3. They haven’t had the stiffest of competition but have played Charter and Wilmington Christian just like DMA, winning relatively easily. Conrad also beat a pretty decent Newark Charter team 11-0. Conrad’s other 3 wins were against pretty weak teams; Dickinson, Brandywine and A.I. outscoring those three teams, 49-2. Conrad is also putting up double digit runs per game, while their pitching has been excellent only allowing 11 total runs in 7 games. Bradigan (3-0) and Kramades (2-0) have been very good. I would say both teams are equally matched with big bats and good pitching though I think Conrad might be slightly better in both regards. DMA won this matchup in 2015, 3-2, with Conrad winning big in 2014, 11-1. In 2013 they split close games with each other.
Smyrna (5-0) @ Middletown (5-1). GAME OF THE DAY – Publics. Another great matchup today. Undefeated Smyrna takes a somewhat short ride “all the way” upstate to visit Mtown. Smyrna played a great game against Appo two weeks ago, winning in extras. They followed that up with a 3-2 win over Dover right after that. In their other 3 games, Smyrna has dominated, outscoring Delmar, IR & Laurel 25-1. Carrow and Barkley have pitched really well for Smyrna. Neither has pitched in 8 days, so they should both be well rested and Smryna doesn’t play again until next Tuesday against Seaford. Smyrna’s bats have been popping as well averaging 7 runs per game. Middletown has also had a good start in 2016. They were a little disappointing in their 12-4 loss to Cape, but they have battled it out with extra inning wins over DMA & Sussex Tech and were pretty dominant in wins over Hodgson and Concord. Mtown struggled with Newark needing to come from behind late winning 4-3. Mtown doesn’t have the arms, but they are awfully scrappy. They are winning close games. Unfortunately I think Mtown is well overmatched today. I’m not sure they have the arms to shut down Smyrna’s bats and if Carrow/Barkley are pitching well hits could be in short supply.
DMA (6-1) @ Conrad (6-1). With the other big games upstate today, this game might go unnoticed. DMA, after their late game let down against Mtown in the first game, have won six straight games. Their competition hasn’t been top ten teams, but they have beaten some decent teams in Mt P, Glasgow, Charter, Wilmington Christian and Tower Hill. DMA has gotten decent pitching this year from Danz, Kohan & Smith allowing around 3 runs per game. DMA’s bats have been pretty hot running up almost 10 runs per game. Conrad has played equally as well. They started 5-0, then faltered with a disappointing loss to St E 4-3. They haven’t had the stiffest of competition but have played Charter and Wilmington Christian just like DMA, winning relatively easily. Conrad also beat a pretty decent Newark Charter team 11-0. Conrad’s other 3 wins were against pretty weak teams; Dickinson, Brandywine and A.I. outscoring those three teams, 49-2. Conrad is also putting up double digit runs per game, while their pitching has been excellent only allowing 11 total runs in 7 games. Bradigan (3-0) and Kramades (2-0) have been very good. I would say both teams are equally matched with big bats and good pitching though I think Conrad might be slightly better in both regards. DMA won this matchup in 2015, 3-2, with Conrad winning big in 2014, 11-1. In 2013 they split close games with each other.
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