Baseball Recap: Pekin Comes Up Short

Pekin extended their losing streak to 13 on Thursday, dropping them down to 3-15. They took a 6-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Metamora Redbirds. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Redbirds this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 4-0 on Wednesday.

As for Metamora, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-4 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games.

For Metamora's part, Stephen Petri was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out ten over six innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts Petri has posted since back in April of 2025. He was also solid in the batter's box, earning one RBI, one run, and one stolen base.

In other pitching news, Elijah Edwards looked comfortable as he pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (three).

Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Cole Smith, who went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one run. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played. Eli Young also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.

Coming up, Pekin will welcome Peoria Christian at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. As for Metamora, they are taking a road trip to face off against Lincoln at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The Railsplitters will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each contest than the last.