Cape (3-0) @ Caravel (2-1). GAME OF THE DAY (actually evening 7pm game). Battle of two teams in the top five so far this year. Cape and Caravel had an epic game last year in the Semi Finals with Cape pulling it out 8-7. Caravel had blown the doors off Cape earlier in the 2015 season, 16-7. Now in 2016, Cape is playing well. They started off beating Milford 10-5, then followed that up with a 12-4 win over a good Mtown team. On Tuesday they won 6-4 game against Central which they pretty much dominated until they gave up 3 in final frame to make it close. They have gotten good pitching out of Elliott, Gelof and Erickson, but they are giving up 4 or 5 runs per game. The run support has been the difference as they are averaging over 9 runs per game. Elliott just threw 4 innings on Tuesday so I’m not sure we will see him. Caravel as usual plays so many out of state games, its hard to tell just how good they are. No doubt they are good…just how good. They played a great game against a good Wm Penn Charter team winning 6-4. They had great pitching from Fraley and Carney and hit the ball well. They did uncharacteristically make 4 errors in the game though. Then they beat a decent Roman Catholic team 3-1 behind the great pitching of Fraley. Then with their first in state game, they lose 3-1 to a good Sallies team, seeing good pitching from Robino & Sullivan. Bad news for Cape, is that they may be seeing Fraley tonight since Carney started on Tuesday. Fraley versus Cape’s bats could be a good matchup.
St Marks (5-0) @ Archmere (3-0). St Marks has been on fire to start the season. They have outscored their five opponents 54-5. Their pitching has been awesome only allowing 11 hits total in five games. Their opponents were Hodgson, CR, ST E twice and IR, so they haven’t been challenged by anyone yet, but they are firing on all cylinders for sure. Archmere has had more of a subdued start at 3-0, playing a some decent competition in Newark, Milford and Newark Charter but scoring only 5 runs per game. Orzel has started all three games winning 2 and getting a no decision in the last one on Thursday. Arch will have its hands full today. St Marks beat Arch 8-2 last year and at least the last 8 times they have played Archmere, generally by big scores.
Milford (3-2) @ Polytech (4-1). Milford has been average to start the season. They won 3 relatvely close games over teams that at best are average (CR, Tower Hill & Lake). They lost 10-5 to Cape, but Cape had one big 6-run inning that was the difference. They also lost 5-2 to Archmere. Polytech has been better than average. They won big against lesser teams IR & Lake…then lost a close one to Dover 3-1 against a great pitching performance from Lawson. They followed that up with 14-0 blowouts of both Charter and Glasgow. Charter I can see, but Glasgow is a decent team so that was pretty impressive. With the exception of the IR game (23-12 score), Poly’s pitching from Haaas & Rivera has been really good only allowing 4 runs in the last 4 games, the last two were shutouts.
Conrad (5-0) @ St Elizabeth (2-2). Conrad has started off the season in great fashion. They are averaging 13 runs per game and have only allowed 6 total runs in five games. They are playing well in all facets. This will be their first challenge from a team closer to their level. St E started off 2-0 with wins over Concord and Tower Hill, but got beat in 2 straight games against St Marks being outscored 19-1. Conrad beat St E 9-4 last year. I would expect Conrad’s pitching to keep St E down.
CR (2-3) @ Wood (2-1). CR lost a close game to Milford to start the season. Then they had to score late to beat Seaford 5-3. Then a dismal performance against St Marks, losing 16-1. They followed that up with a loss to Concord. They “upset” Tech 2-1 on Tuesday. Wood started 2-0 with wins over Seaford and Tech. They played a really good game with Delmar on Wednesday losing 3-2 in 8 innings. Avery has been pitching really well, but just pitched on Wed. This could be a good competitive game.
Mtown (3-1) @ Newark (2-2). Mtown is a borderline top ten team right now. They have played well with a come from behind win against DMA and nice wins against Hodgson & Concord. They lost big to Cape 12-4 though which is why they are a borderline top ten. I didn’t expect much from Newark this year and they came out and lost to Arch 5-0. Then they beat Tech 5-4, then blew out a weak Dickinson team. I thought maybe they were better than I originally anticipated. But then they get blown out by a winless Penn 13-1. If they play like they did against Tech, they could be in this game…if they play like they did against Penn…it will be over early.
Central (2-2) @ Lake Forest (1-3). Central has already lost 2 conference games to Tech and Cape. They did have two wins against out of state Easton and Parkside. Lake didn’t play well starting 0-3, all conference losses to Dover, Poly & Milford. Lake needed a 6-run sixth inning to come from behind and beat Seaford on Tuesday. Central won a close one last year over Lake 3-0.
Wm Penn (1-3) @ Mt Pleasant (1-2). Not the start either team was hoping for. WmP seemed to have some promise from last year but lost to St G, Glasgow and Friends. They smashed Newark in a surprise, so we don’t know what to expect from them. Mt P crushed Dickinson to start the season, but lost by 5-runs to good DMA & APPO teams.
Tatnall (1-2) @ A.I. Dupont (1-2). Both teams would like to get back to par. Tatnall had two 1-run losses but also had a 1-run win against St Andrews. A.I. had a huge win over DEPSS, then lost to Glasgow and a winless Charter.
Dover (5-1) @ Seaford (0-3). Dover should roll.
Laurel (0-1) @ Smyrna (4-0). Laurel hasn’t played much and didn’t look good in its only game that I know (Crisfield game unknown) of against Dover losing 16-0. I don’t think they will have any easier time with Smryna. Laurel lost last year to Smyrna 22-1.
Red Lion (3-0) @ Tome. RLCA might run the table this year.
Brandywine (0-3) @ Hodgson (0-4). Somebody will get a win today…hopefully. Hodgson is probably the best 0-4 team in the state. Hodgson has had a tough schedule to date…Appo, St Marks, Concord and Mtown. They clearly don’t have the arms this year giving up close to 9 runs per game. They have shown a little bit of bat, scoring 5 against Appo and 6 against Concord. Brandywine is struggling. They have given up 42 runs in 3 games against RLCA, Conrad and Tower Hill, only scoring 6. Hodgson has just what the doctor ordered over the next 2 games…matchups with Bwine and Christiana should get their bats going and give the pitchers some confidence.
IR (0-3) @ Tech (1-3). IR has had a brutal schedule to start, playing 3 top ten teams (Poly, Smyrna & St Marks). Not sure what to make of them. I’m still confused by the 23-12 game against Poly. Locked down against Smyrna. Then playing a decent game against St Marks last Saturday losing just 7-3. Tech has had everyone shaking their head this year. Originally projected as possibly a top 5 team this year are off to a horrible start. They did as expected in game 1 beating Central 16-6. Then they have a knockdown drag out with Mtown that ends in a darkness suspended 10-10 tie. So at this point you figure their bats are huge scoring 26 runs in two games against decent teams, but their pitching might be suspect allowing 16 runs in those games. Since then, three straight losses were they are struggling with the bats, scoring 6 runs total over three games but their pitching was decent allowing around 3 runs per game??? I know it seems too early to be talking about “must wins”, but Tech still has a lot of really tough games on their horizon (Mtown, Dover, Sallies, Cape, St Marks, Poly, Smyrna). Even they were playing well, they could lose most or all of those. So they can’t afford another loss to a lesser team.
St Marks (5-0) @ Archmere (3-0). St Marks has been on fire to start the season. They have outscored their five opponents 54-5. Their pitching has been awesome only allowing 11 hits total in five games. Their opponents were Hodgson, CR, ST E twice and IR, so they haven’t been challenged by anyone yet, but they are firing on all cylinders for sure. Archmere has had more of a subdued start at 3-0, playing a some decent competition in Newark, Milford and Newark Charter but scoring only 5 runs per game. Orzel has started all three games winning 2 and getting a no decision in the last one on Thursday. Arch will have its hands full today. St Marks beat Arch 8-2 last year and at least the last 8 times they have played Archmere, generally by big scores.
Milford (3-2) @ Polytech (4-1). Milford has been average to start the season. They won 3 relatvely close games over teams that at best are average (CR, Tower Hill & Lake). They lost 10-5 to Cape, but Cape had one big 6-run inning that was the difference. They also lost 5-2 to Archmere. Polytech has been better than average. They won big against lesser teams IR & Lake…then lost a close one to Dover 3-1 against a great pitching performance from Lawson. They followed that up with 14-0 blowouts of both Charter and Glasgow. Charter I can see, but Glasgow is a decent team so that was pretty impressive. With the exception of the IR game (23-12 score), Poly’s pitching from Haaas & Rivera has been really good only allowing 4 runs in the last 4 games, the last two were shutouts.
Conrad (5-0) @ St Elizabeth (2-2). Conrad has started off the season in great fashion. They are averaging 13 runs per game and have only allowed 6 total runs in five games. They are playing well in all facets. This will be their first challenge from a team closer to their level. St E started off 2-0 with wins over Concord and Tower Hill, but got beat in 2 straight games against St Marks being outscored 19-1. Conrad beat St E 9-4 last year. I would expect Conrad’s pitching to keep St E down.
CR (2-3) @ Wood (2-1). CR lost a close game to Milford to start the season. Then they had to score late to beat Seaford 5-3. Then a dismal performance against St Marks, losing 16-1. They followed that up with a loss to Concord. They “upset” Tech 2-1 on Tuesday. Wood started 2-0 with wins over Seaford and Tech. They played a really good game with Delmar on Wednesday losing 3-2 in 8 innings. Avery has been pitching really well, but just pitched on Wed. This could be a good competitive game.
Mtown (3-1) @ Newark (2-2). Mtown is a borderline top ten team right now. They have played well with a come from behind win against DMA and nice wins against Hodgson & Concord. They lost big to Cape 12-4 though which is why they are a borderline top ten. I didn’t expect much from Newark this year and they came out and lost to Arch 5-0. Then they beat Tech 5-4, then blew out a weak Dickinson team. I thought maybe they were better than I originally anticipated. But then they get blown out by a winless Penn 13-1. If they play like they did against Tech, they could be in this game…if they play like they did against Penn…it will be over early.
Central (2-2) @ Lake Forest (1-3). Central has already lost 2 conference games to Tech and Cape. They did have two wins against out of state Easton and Parkside. Lake didn’t play well starting 0-3, all conference losses to Dover, Poly & Milford. Lake needed a 6-run sixth inning to come from behind and beat Seaford on Tuesday. Central won a close one last year over Lake 3-0.
Wm Penn (1-3) @ Mt Pleasant (1-2). Not the start either team was hoping for. WmP seemed to have some promise from last year but lost to St G, Glasgow and Friends. They smashed Newark in a surprise, so we don’t know what to expect from them. Mt P crushed Dickinson to start the season, but lost by 5-runs to good DMA & APPO teams.
Tatnall (1-2) @ A.I. Dupont (1-2). Both teams would like to get back to par. Tatnall had two 1-run losses but also had a 1-run win against St Andrews. A.I. had a huge win over DEPSS, then lost to Glasgow and a winless Charter.
Dover (5-1) @ Seaford (0-3). Dover should roll.
Laurel (0-1) @ Smyrna (4-0). Laurel hasn’t played much and didn’t look good in its only game that I know (Crisfield game unknown) of against Dover losing 16-0. I don’t think they will have any easier time with Smryna. Laurel lost last year to Smyrna 22-1.
Red Lion (3-0) @ Tome. RLCA might run the table this year.
Brandywine (0-3) @ Hodgson (0-4). Somebody will get a win today…hopefully. Hodgson is probably the best 0-4 team in the state. Hodgson has had a tough schedule to date…Appo, St Marks, Concord and Mtown. They clearly don’t have the arms this year giving up close to 9 runs per game. They have shown a little bit of bat, scoring 5 against Appo and 6 against Concord. Brandywine is struggling. They have given up 42 runs in 3 games against RLCA, Conrad and Tower Hill, only scoring 6. Hodgson has just what the doctor ordered over the next 2 games…matchups with Bwine and Christiana should get their bats going and give the pitchers some confidence.
IR (0-3) @ Tech (1-3). IR has had a brutal schedule to start, playing 3 top ten teams (Poly, Smyrna & St Marks). Not sure what to make of them. I’m still confused by the 23-12 game against Poly. Locked down against Smyrna. Then playing a decent game against St Marks last Saturday losing just 7-3. Tech has had everyone shaking their head this year. Originally projected as possibly a top 5 team this year are off to a horrible start. They did as expected in game 1 beating Central 16-6. Then they have a knockdown drag out with Mtown that ends in a darkness suspended 10-10 tie. So at this point you figure their bats are huge scoring 26 runs in two games against decent teams, but their pitching might be suspect allowing 16 runs in those games. Since then, three straight losses were they are struggling with the bats, scoring 6 runs total over three games but their pitching was decent allowing around 3 runs per game??? I know it seems too early to be talking about “must wins”, but Tech still has a lot of really tough games on their horizon (Mtown, Dover, Sallies, Cape, St Marks, Poly, Smyrna). Even they were playing well, they could lose most or all of those. So they can’t afford another loss to a lesser team.
