The Earlville Red Raiders will face off against the Yorkville Christian Mustangs at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Earlville will bounce into Thursday's match after beating Serena, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. The Red Raiders won by a run and slipped past the Huskers 10-9. That's two games straight that the Red Raiders have won by just one run.
The team relied heavily on Grady Harp, who scored a run while going 2-for-4. Declan Brennan was another key player, scoring three runs while going 2-for-5.
Meanwhile, Yorkville Christian made easy work of Northridge on Monday and carried off an 11-5 win. The Mustangs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by six runs or more this season.
Danny Paige made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over 4.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and four unearned) runs off one hit. Those seven strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, scoring a run while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.
In other batting news, Yorkville Christian let Nolan Hooper and Austin Vugteveen run wild. Hooper scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances, while Vugteveen scored two runs while going 3-for-5. Vugteveen has become a key player for Yorkville Christian: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 2-5 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaac Mccoy, who scored a run while going 2-for-5.
Yorkville Christian is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight games. That's provided a massive bump to their 6-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.0 runs over those games. As for Earlville, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 3-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Earlville has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Yorkville Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.3 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Earlville might still be hurting after the 11-0 defeat they got from Yorkville Christian in their previous meeting back in April of 2021. Can the Red Raiders avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
