Baseball Preview: Arcola Purple Riders vs. Okaw Valley Timberwolves
Arcola is 0-8 against Okaw Valley since April of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Arcola Purple Riders will look to defend their home field against the Okaw Valley Timberwolves at 4:00 p.m. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Arcola: 2.6, Okaw Valley: 3.5) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Things were looking good for Arcola after they put the first points on the board on Saturday, but unfortunately for them things went downhill from there. They might be feeling deja-vu: they lost 5-3 to Altamont, which was the same score (and result) they got the week prior. Arcola has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Tanner Thomas put in work while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Thomas has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive pitching appearances. Thomas was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs.
Thomas wasn't the only one making solid contact as three players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Caiden Helmuth, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Meanwhile, Okaw Valley had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.2 runs), and they went ahead and made it seven on Monday. They had just enough and edged the Bombers out 5-4.
Arcola's loss dropped their record down to 18-4. As for Okaw Valley, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 22-6 record this season.
Arcola came up short against Okaw Valley in their previous matchup back in May of 2023, falling 8-4. Will Arcola have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
