#24 Polytech (10-8) @ #9 Wilmington Friends (15-3). Poly and Friends did not play this year.
Poly lost their final game 4-1 to Arch put the their tourney life in jeopardy, but they got the final tourney spot. Poly started 1-3 this year, losing to smaller schools IR (4-8) and Delmar (0-6). They bounced back and crushed Smyrna 17-4, but then lost a close one to St G. They finished strong coming into the last game with Archmere where they beat Newark Charter, beat up CR 11-6, beat Central 13-3 and lost close ones to Cape 4-1 and Tech 6-4. Poly was 4-7 against other playoff teams this year. Poly is scoring over 6 runs per game and allowing just under 5 runs per game. On the mound Barter is 4-0 with wins over Central and Newark Charter. Poly has been to 7 post seasons but haven’t had much luck going 2-7 all time. Poly did get a win in the 2017 tourney beating Delmar 7-2 before getting beat by Conrad in the 2nd round 10-4.
Friends have had a great season. This is their best record since going 16-4 back in 2004. Friends finished the season with an eight game winning streak and easily winning their conference. Their only knock is that they have only played 3 playoff caliber teams, beating RLCA 18-2 and losing to Concord and Wm Penn. Friends have scored a lot of runs this year averaging 8.5 runs per game. But their pitching has been steller with Nelson at 7-2 and Mullen at 7-0. They are only allowing 2.8 runs per game but even more impressive is that they have held 12 opponents to 2 runs or less. Despite their lack of competition this year, they battled #1 seed William Penn in an 8 inning pitchers duel losing 1-0 with Nelson losing a gem. Friends have only been to the post season 3 times in their history, losing all three first round games. Their most recent appearance was 2005.
Prediction; this is a tough one. Normally I would say a team like Friends will be overpowered by a Big Henlopen team. But I think Nelson could hold his own against any team in the state. If Friends can put up some runs, I think they can win this one.
Poly lost their final game 4-1 to Arch put the their tourney life in jeopardy, but they got the final tourney spot. Poly started 1-3 this year, losing to smaller schools IR (4-8) and Delmar (0-6). They bounced back and crushed Smyrna 17-4, but then lost a close one to St G. They finished strong coming into the last game with Archmere where they beat Newark Charter, beat up CR 11-6, beat Central 13-3 and lost close ones to Cape 4-1 and Tech 6-4. Poly was 4-7 against other playoff teams this year. Poly is scoring over 6 runs per game and allowing just under 5 runs per game. On the mound Barter is 4-0 with wins over Central and Newark Charter. Poly has been to 7 post seasons but haven’t had much luck going 2-7 all time. Poly did get a win in the 2017 tourney beating Delmar 7-2 before getting beat by Conrad in the 2nd round 10-4.
Friends have had a great season. This is their best record since going 16-4 back in 2004. Friends finished the season with an eight game winning streak and easily winning their conference. Their only knock is that they have only played 3 playoff caliber teams, beating RLCA 18-2 and losing to Concord and Wm Penn. Friends have scored a lot of runs this year averaging 8.5 runs per game. But their pitching has been steller with Nelson at 7-2 and Mullen at 7-0. They are only allowing 2.8 runs per game but even more impressive is that they have held 12 opponents to 2 runs or less. Despite their lack of competition this year, they battled #1 seed William Penn in an 8 inning pitchers duel losing 1-0 with Nelson losing a gem. Friends have only been to the post season 3 times in their history, losing all three first round games. Their most recent appearance was 2005.
Prediction; this is a tough one. Normally I would say a team like Friends will be overpowered by a Big Henlopen team. But I think Nelson could hold his own against any team in the state. If Friends can put up some runs, I think they can win this one.
