Baseball Game Preview: Watseka Warriors vs. Manteno Panthers

The Watseka Warriors will head out to challenge the Manteno Panthers at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Watseka is coming into the game hot, having won their last four games.

While Watseka's victory against Momence wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Warriors narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past the Momence Athletics 10-9. Ten seems to be a good number for the Warriors as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Seth Dirks

Runs

05/09/25 @ Schlarman	3
05/14/25 vs Momence	2
04/29/25 @ South Newton	2
03/18/25 vs Beecher	2
05/07/25 @ Armstrong	1
+ 3 more games

Seth Dirks was excellent, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with two runs. He has become a key player for Watseka: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 7-12 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Payton Schaumburg, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI, one run, and one double.

Meanwhile, Manteno came up short against Coal City on Tuesday and fell 6-3. The Panthers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Manteno saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Tyler Buehler, who went 1-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.

Watseka pushed their record up to 10-13 with the win, which was their third straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.3 runs over those games. As for Manteno, their defeat dropped their record down to 17-7.

Watseka came out on top in a nail-biter against Manteno in their previous meeting back in April of 2016, sneaking past 4-3. Will the Warriors repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.