Smyrna (6-1) @ Caravel (5-3). GAME OF THE DAY. Beautiful day for a night game? Huh? Smyrna takes the long ride up “north”…a few miles. Smyrna has had some tough games up “north” this year. They beat Appo in extras 7-6 and lost one to Mtown 2-1. I don’t think this one will be any different. Smyrna came back from their first defeat of the season and throttled Seaford 12-1 on Tuesday. Carrow (2-0) and Barkley (2-1) have pitched well this season. In 6 of their 7 games this year, they have given up 2 or fewer runs in each of those games. If you match that up with the 8 run per game average they are scoring, it bodes well for Smyrna in most games. Carrow hasn’t pitched in two weeks, not sure if that’s an issue or just a timing thing. Barkley hasn’t pitched in a week. So the arms are fresh. Caravel started to take a tumble. After 2 close wins out of state to start the season, they then lost 3 of their next 4 games. Nobody is panicking since they were to Sallies (3-1), St Marks (4-3) and a complete letdown to Buena Regional from NJ after leading 5-0, they lost 9-5. Since then they have had a couple of tune-up games against Hodgson and IR, shutting both out. Caravel struggles to put up runs. They have only scored 32 runs in 8 games, with 10 of them coming in one game. Caravel has very good pitching though with Fraley and Carney. Fraley hasn’t pitched since 4/11 and even though Carney pitched on Tuesday, I believe he only threw a couple of innings. So it seems both teams have their big guns available for this matchup. Last year, Caravel beat Smyrna 6-1 in the first round of the playoffs. Carney and Fraley combined giving up just 6 hits while Carrow took the loss. In 2014 Caravel beat Smyrna in the 2nd round of the playoffs 7-6. I think Caravel’s lack of hitting could be a problem against the good pitching of Smyrna. So even though Fraley is the one of the best pitchers in the state, if he doesn’t get some run support , Caravel could lose another tough game.
Appo (7-2) @ Mtown (7-2). Big local battle between neighbors, bitter rivals and more importantly 2 top ten teams. Appo comes into the game with a 5 game winning streak. Their only 2 losses were extra inning games against Smyrna and Sallies. I guess on the flip side, their wins haven’t been to over impressive teams until last week when they beat St Marks 4-3 in extras. Since the St Marks game they have blown out Tatnall 10-0, but then barely beat a struggling Wm Penn team 3-2 on Tuesday. Appo’s pitching has been improving. They started the season allowing 28 runs in five games, but in the last 4 have only allowed 5 total runs. Their bats weren’t impressive against Wm Penn, but they are averaging over 7 runs per game this year. Mtown has been having a pretty good season thus far. At 7-2 they had a disappointing loss to Cape 12-4, but other than that they have been pretty solid. Their other loss was 5-3 to a good St Georges team. But they have had wins against DMA, Tech and a big 2-1 win over Smyrna. Like Appo, their last game was a shaky win beating Delcastle 8-6. Mtown isn’t an offensive powerhouse. They are scoring 6 runs per game on average, but that is mostly inflated by a couple of big games. They have scored 4 or less in more than half of their games. Similarily, they have allowed 5 runs per game BUT half their games they allowed 3 or less runs. So what does all that mean. If Mtown is getting good pitching, look out and if they need to, they can pile up some runs. Dunn is 3-0 this year for Mtown and probably will be on the mound today. Appo hasn’t thrown Garrett or Steckline since Monday the 11th. Appo does have a game Saturday with Delmar to think about in regards to pitching, but this conference game I would imagine would be where both of those guys will pitch if needed. It was Garrett vs Dunn last year, Appo threw a 3 hitter and Appo won 7-1. Appo has beaten Mtown 5 straight times they met.
Dover (8-2) @ CR (5-4). After being beat by a resurging Sussex Tech 5-3, Dover lit up Charter and Wood outscoring them 22-2. Dover is sitting pretty for the playoffs at this point, but are 2 losses back for the conference title. A conference title is still within reach so this is a must win for them. Dover has been getting good pitching overall allowing one or fewer runs in five games this year. 18 total runs surrendered in ten games. That spells a lot of wins especially when your offense is putting up nearly 9 runs per game on average. CR started 1-3 on the season but won 4 straight games. CR had a tough game with Cape on Tuesday, playing well early (3-3 tie in the 4th), but surrendered 7 runs over the next three innings losing 10-5. CR has a very brutal schedule coming up, Dover, Poly, Smyrna, Arch, Delmar, Mtown. That’s a tough road. CR had some decent pitching, but they have only scored 43 runs in nine games, 10 of which came in one game. Dover pitched a 4 hit shutout against CR last year.
DMA (8-2) @ Wm Penn (3-6). Wm Penn is another one of those teams you just can’t figure out. They have taken big losses to Glasgow 11-1 and Delcastle 11-5. But beat St E 5-3. Then Tuesday only lose 3-2 to Appo??? Only thing I can tell DMA…don’t under estimate them. DMA is playing very well. Their only losses are to top ten teams… 9-8 to Mtown and 4-2 to Conrad. Their other games they have mostly won big over average teams (Newark Charter, Newark, Wilm Christian). They did play in tight games with wins over Tower Hill (5-3) and Glasgow (5-2). DMA needs to get this win because they have a big week, next week against Appo and Archmere.
Wood (3-4) @ Polytech (6-2). Wood started 2-0, but have lost 4 of their last five games. Granted the losses were to pretty good teams (Delmar, CR, Lake, Dover). But it doesn’t get any better for Wood as they play Poly, Cape, Smryna & Central next. Poly had some big expectations coming into the season and were fulfilling them starting 5-1. Then Poly blew a 7-1 lead to Central barely pulling out the 8-7 win. Poly followed that up getting beat by Archmere 9-1. Poly needs to get back on track today, especially with games against CR & Cape next week.
RLCA (6-0) @ St Andrews (3-4). We all know that RLCA has an easy schedule. But you have to give them credit….they are taking care of business. Their last victory was over DEPSS Monday 12-1. They have been scoring over 10 runs per game and have only allowed 7 runs total in the past five games. St Andrews started 3-0 but have lost 4 straight games. RL magic will keep on rolling.
Lake Forest (5-3) @ IR (0-8). IR has had a brutal schedule (Poly, Smy, St Mks, Tech, Decatur, CR, Delm & Caravel). Its hard to tell what kind of team they are going against that competition. Lake has been on a roll winning 5 straight games over Seaf, Cent, Wood, St And & Delm after starting 0-3. Granted their competition wasn’t stiff, but they are playing well and making a run. They are 5-3 and have IR, Christiana, St Thomas More & Laurel coming up next.
Hodgson (2-5) @ Dickinson (1-6). Who would have thought that these two would have similar records. Hodgson will probably run up the score.
St Georges (5-1) @ McKean (2-4). St G will probably roll.
St E (4-4) @ Newark Charter (3-5). St E has been hard to figure out this year. 2 wins, then got blown out for two games by St Marks. Then St E has a big win over a good Conrad team 4-3. But then close losses to Tatnall and Wm penn. Now they play a young Newark Charter team that has had a pretty tough schedule. They have played Appo, Tatnall, Archmere, Conrad, Sallies & Dma. Other than the 11-0 blowout by Conrad, they have played everyone relatively close. NC’s schedule doesn’t get any easier with St E today and Caravel on Saturday. NC was 3-hit last year by St E.
Friends (5-2) @ Tower Hill (2-5). Friends started 4-0 but have only won a single game over the last three, including a close loss to Wilm Chr. Friends still leads their conference but Tatnall is on its heals with only one conference loss. Tower has had 3 straight losses and is seemingly struggling with a tougher schedule this year.
DEPSS (2-4) @ Wilm Christian (4-4). DEPSS finally got a win over Sanford after 3 straight games getting 10-runned. WC had won 3 of 4 before getting 10-run by Sallies. I expect WC to take this and with some winnable games coming up (Tower, New Charter and Tatnall), WC could get on a roll.
Appo (7-2) @ Mtown (7-2). Big local battle between neighbors, bitter rivals and more importantly 2 top ten teams. Appo comes into the game with a 5 game winning streak. Their only 2 losses were extra inning games against Smyrna and Sallies. I guess on the flip side, their wins haven’t been to over impressive teams until last week when they beat St Marks 4-3 in extras. Since the St Marks game they have blown out Tatnall 10-0, but then barely beat a struggling Wm Penn team 3-2 on Tuesday. Appo’s pitching has been improving. They started the season allowing 28 runs in five games, but in the last 4 have only allowed 5 total runs. Their bats weren’t impressive against Wm Penn, but they are averaging over 7 runs per game this year. Mtown has been having a pretty good season thus far. At 7-2 they had a disappointing loss to Cape 12-4, but other than that they have been pretty solid. Their other loss was 5-3 to a good St Georges team. But they have had wins against DMA, Tech and a big 2-1 win over Smyrna. Like Appo, their last game was a shaky win beating Delcastle 8-6. Mtown isn’t an offensive powerhouse. They are scoring 6 runs per game on average, but that is mostly inflated by a couple of big games. They have scored 4 or less in more than half of their games. Similarily, they have allowed 5 runs per game BUT half their games they allowed 3 or less runs. So what does all that mean. If Mtown is getting good pitching, look out and if they need to, they can pile up some runs. Dunn is 3-0 this year for Mtown and probably will be on the mound today. Appo hasn’t thrown Garrett or Steckline since Monday the 11th. Appo does have a game Saturday with Delmar to think about in regards to pitching, but this conference game I would imagine would be where both of those guys will pitch if needed. It was Garrett vs Dunn last year, Appo threw a 3 hitter and Appo won 7-1. Appo has beaten Mtown 5 straight times they met.
Dover (8-2) @ CR (5-4). After being beat by a resurging Sussex Tech 5-3, Dover lit up Charter and Wood outscoring them 22-2. Dover is sitting pretty for the playoffs at this point, but are 2 losses back for the conference title. A conference title is still within reach so this is a must win for them. Dover has been getting good pitching overall allowing one or fewer runs in five games this year. 18 total runs surrendered in ten games. That spells a lot of wins especially when your offense is putting up nearly 9 runs per game on average. CR started 1-3 on the season but won 4 straight games. CR had a tough game with Cape on Tuesday, playing well early (3-3 tie in the 4th), but surrendered 7 runs over the next three innings losing 10-5. CR has a very brutal schedule coming up, Dover, Poly, Smyrna, Arch, Delmar, Mtown. That’s a tough road. CR had some decent pitching, but they have only scored 43 runs in nine games, 10 of which came in one game. Dover pitched a 4 hit shutout against CR last year.
DMA (8-2) @ Wm Penn (3-6). Wm Penn is another one of those teams you just can’t figure out. They have taken big losses to Glasgow 11-1 and Delcastle 11-5. But beat St E 5-3. Then Tuesday only lose 3-2 to Appo??? Only thing I can tell DMA…don’t under estimate them. DMA is playing very well. Their only losses are to top ten teams… 9-8 to Mtown and 4-2 to Conrad. Their other games they have mostly won big over average teams (Newark Charter, Newark, Wilm Christian). They did play in tight games with wins over Tower Hill (5-3) and Glasgow (5-2). DMA needs to get this win because they have a big week, next week against Appo and Archmere.
Wood (3-4) @ Polytech (6-2). Wood started 2-0, but have lost 4 of their last five games. Granted the losses were to pretty good teams (Delmar, CR, Lake, Dover). But it doesn’t get any better for Wood as they play Poly, Cape, Smryna & Central next. Poly had some big expectations coming into the season and were fulfilling them starting 5-1. Then Poly blew a 7-1 lead to Central barely pulling out the 8-7 win. Poly followed that up getting beat by Archmere 9-1. Poly needs to get back on track today, especially with games against CR & Cape next week.
RLCA (6-0) @ St Andrews (3-4). We all know that RLCA has an easy schedule. But you have to give them credit….they are taking care of business. Their last victory was over DEPSS Monday 12-1. They have been scoring over 10 runs per game and have only allowed 7 runs total in the past five games. St Andrews started 3-0 but have lost 4 straight games. RL magic will keep on rolling.
Lake Forest (5-3) @ IR (0-8). IR has had a brutal schedule (Poly, Smy, St Mks, Tech, Decatur, CR, Delm & Caravel). Its hard to tell what kind of team they are going against that competition. Lake has been on a roll winning 5 straight games over Seaf, Cent, Wood, St And & Delm after starting 0-3. Granted their competition wasn’t stiff, but they are playing well and making a run. They are 5-3 and have IR, Christiana, St Thomas More & Laurel coming up next.
Hodgson (2-5) @ Dickinson (1-6). Who would have thought that these two would have similar records. Hodgson will probably run up the score.
St Georges (5-1) @ McKean (2-4). St G will probably roll.
St E (4-4) @ Newark Charter (3-5). St E has been hard to figure out this year. 2 wins, then got blown out for two games by St Marks. Then St E has a big win over a good Conrad team 4-3. But then close losses to Tatnall and Wm penn. Now they play a young Newark Charter team that has had a pretty tough schedule. They have played Appo, Tatnall, Archmere, Conrad, Sallies & Dma. Other than the 11-0 blowout by Conrad, they have played everyone relatively close. NC’s schedule doesn’t get any easier with St E today and Caravel on Saturday. NC was 3-hit last year by St E.
Friends (5-2) @ Tower Hill (2-5). Friends started 4-0 but have only won a single game over the last three, including a close loss to Wilm Chr. Friends still leads their conference but Tatnall is on its heals with only one conference loss. Tower has had 3 straight losses and is seemingly struggling with a tougher schedule this year.
DEPSS (2-4) @ Wilm Christian (4-4). DEPSS finally got a win over Sanford after 3 straight games getting 10-runned. WC had won 3 of 4 before getting 10-run by Sallies. I expect WC to take this and with some winnable games coming up (Tower, New Charter and Tatnall), WC could get on a roll.
