Baseball Recap: Vandalia Comes Up Short

Vandalia had lost four straight on the road, but on Friday they dropped their record down to 5-6 to make it five. They fell just short of the Hillsboro Hiltoppers by a score of 2-1. Having soared to a lofty 11 runs in the game before, the Vandals couldn't push the score so high this time.

As for Hillsboro, the victory snapped their losing streak at eight games and leaves them with a 2-12 record. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win they have posted against Vandalia since April 15, 2019.

For Hillsboro's part, Nathan Matoush spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered a run (which was unearned) on one hit and racked up 18 Ks. Matoush has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Hillsboro saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Eli Zaidi, who went 1-for-3 with one RBI.

We've got plenty of inter-conference action coming up soon. Vandalia is set to challenge their familiar foe Litchfield at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, Hillsboro will face off against rival Greenville at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.