Baseball Game Preview: Murphysboro Red Devils vs. Steeleville Warriors

The Murphysboro Red Devils will take on the Steeleville Warriors at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Neither of those teams managed to put together many runs in their previous contests, so the offenses might be a little more motivated than usual.

Murphysboro fought the good fight in their extra-innings game against Crystal Lake South on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell 5-2 to the Gators. The Red Devils haven't had much luck with the Gators recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.

Murphysboro got a good showing from Nathan Evans, who tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Those zero hits allowed gave Evans a new career-low.

At the plate, Murphysboro saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Austin Hunter, who went 1-for-3 with one double and one RBI. William Bess was another, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.

Meanwhile, Steeleville didn't have quite enough to beat Zeigler-Royalton on Monday and fell 2-1.

Murphysboro's loss dropped their record down to 4-4. As for Steeleville, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-2.

Everything went Murphysboro's way against Steeleville in their previous matchup back in March of 2024, as Murphysboro made off with an 18-0 win. Will Murphysboro repeat their success, or does Steeleville has a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.