Baseball Game Preview: Mendon Unity Mustangs vs. Camp Point Central Panthers

Mustangs

Runs

05/13/26 vs West Central co-op [Winchester-Bluffs]	1
05/11/26 vs Hamilton/Warsaw	16
05/04/26 @ Rushville-Industry	12
05/01/26 @ Clark County	3
04/28/26 vs Illini West	11
+ 13 more games

Mendon Unity and Camp Point Central are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2021, but likely not for long. The Mustangs will head out on the road to square off against the Panthers at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Mendon Unity is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.8 runs per game this season.

West Central co-op [Winchester-Bluffs] hit Mendon Unity with a four-run seventh inning on Wednesday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Mustangs fell 6-1 to the Cougars. Having soared to a lofty 16 runs in the game before, the Mustangs couldn't push the score so high this time.

Meanwhile, Camp Point Central had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Monday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Wildcats a 15-0 shutout. The result was nothing new for the Panthers, who have now won six matchups by six runs or more so far this season.

Braxton Kestner was incredible, going 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, five RBI, and two runs. Those five RBI gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Caleb Petersen, who went 2-for-4 with three runs, three RBI, and one stolen base.

Mendon Unity's loss dropped their record down to 10-8. As for Camp Point Central, their win bumped their record up to 14-4.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Mendon Unity has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Camp Point Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 7.4 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.

Mendon Unity got the 'W' in their previous matchup back in May of 2025 against Camp Point Central by a conclusive 13-1 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Mustangs since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.