Baseball Game Preview: Oak Hills Highlanders vs. Sycamore Aviators

The Oak Hills Highlanders are taking a road trip to square off against the Sycamore Aviators at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The last three games Oak Hills has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

Oak Hills is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Milford 2-1. That's two games straight that the Highlanders have won by just one run.

Ryan Murphy spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered a run (which was unearned) on four hits and racked up eight Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in eight consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Oak Hills saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Beckham Shorten, who went 1-for-2 with one run.

Lebanon typically has all the answers at home, but on Tuesday Sycamore proved too difficult a challenge. They skirted past the Warriors 5-4.

Oak Hills pushed their record up to 18-10 with the win, which was their third straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.3 runs on average over those games. As for Sycamore, their win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 10-15.

Everything went Oak Hills' way against Sycamore when the teams last played two weeks ago, as Oak Hills made off with a 9-1 victory. Will the Highlanders repeat their success, or do the Aviators have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.