Baseball Game Preview: Hillman Tigers vs. Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals

The Hillman Tigers are taking a road trip to challenge the Johannesburg-Lewiston Cardinals at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Johannesburg-Lewiston took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Hillman, who comes in off a win.

On Monday, Hillman made easy work of Au Gres-Sims and carried off a 13-5 victory. The Tigers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 14 contests by six runs or more this season.

The team relied heavily on Evan Crane, who went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, three runs, and one triple. That triple marked the first that he has hit this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Jack Sobey, who went 1-for-4 with three RBI and one run.

Meanwhile, Johannesburg-Lewiston was not able to break out of their rough patch on Monday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They were a single run away from ending the streak, but they lost a 5-4 heartbreaker at the hands of Mancelona.

Johannesburg-Lewiston saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Rylan Rosso, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run.

Hillman's win was their 12th straight at home, which pushed their record up to 20-3. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 13.1 runs over those games. As for Johannesburg-Lewiston, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-8.

Hillman couldn't quite finish off Johannesburg-Lewiston in their previous matchup back in May of 2024 and fell 3-1. Can the Tigers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.