Baseball Game Preview: Avon Eagles vs. Riverside Beavers

The Avon Eagles will face off against the Riverside Beavers at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Avon is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Elyria a 13-0 shutout on Tuesday. The win continues a trend for the Eagles in their matchups with the Pioneers: they've now won eight in a row.

Casey Birth tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out seven over five innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Avon is 4-2 when he allows at most one earned run, but 5-10 otherwise.

Cameron Ocepek

Runs Batted In (Career)

05/12/26 @ Elyria	3
04/16/26 vs Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin	2
05/11/26 vs Elyria	1
05/08/26 @ Westlake	1
05/07/26 vs Avon Lake	1

On the hitting side, Gavin Koehler and Cameron Ocepek did most of the damage at the plate: Koehler went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, three RBI, and one stolen base, while Ocepek went a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI, one run, and one double. Those three RBI gave Ocepek a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Kyle Delury, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and one double.

Avon always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .543. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Riverside never got on the board in their matchup on Monday, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against Benedictine on Wednesday. They put the hurt on the Bengals with a sharp 14-1 victory. Considering the Beavers have won six games by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.

Riverside's win bumped their record up to 12-5. As for Avon, their victory bumped their record up to 9-12.

Avon couldn't quite get it done against Riverside in their previous matchup back in May of 2025 as they fell 8-4. Can the Eagles avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.