Baseball Game Preview: Hoxie Mustangs vs. Rivercrest Colts

Hoxie is 0-8 against Rivercrest since March of 2016 but things could change on Thursday. The Mustangs are taking a road trip to take on the Colts at 4:30 p.m. Hoxie will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each matchup than the last.

Hoxie is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They blew past Osceola 17-2 on Tuesday. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Mustangs as it put an end to their six-game losing streak.

Dalton Neely

Runs

04/15/25 @ Osceola	4
04/15/25 vs Osceola	3
03/17/25 @ Brinkley	2
03/11/25 @ Marmaduke	2
03/03/25 vs Augusta	2
+ 3 more games

Dalton Neely and Colby Bullard did most of the damage at the plate: Neely scored four runs and stole three bases while going 1-for-3, while Bullard scored three runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-2. Neely has become a key player for Hoxie: the team is 4-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 1-10 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Hayden McIntire, who scored three runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Hoxie always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .645. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Rivercrest never let their opponents score on Wednesday. They were the clear victors by a 15-0 margin over West Memphis Christian. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Colts considering their one-run performance the contest before.

Rivercrest has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 4-11 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Hoxie, their win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-9 and their overall record up to 5-11.

Hoxie suffered a grim 13-0 defeat to Rivercrest in their previous meeting last Wednesday. Can the Mustangs avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.