Baseball Game Preview: Oak Forest Bengals vs. Hillcrest Hawks

Oak Forest is a perfect 10-0 against Hillcrest since April of 2019 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Monday. The Bengals will host the Hawks at 4:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Oak Forest has five straight wins, Hillcrest has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Oak Forest's hitters will try to repeat the strong performance they gave on Saturday, when they got past Richards' usually-dominant pitching crew. The Bengals put the hurt on the Bulldogs with a sharp 13-5 victory. The Bengals might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won five matches by seven runs or more this season.

Justin Gibbs

Runs (Career)

04/19/25 @ Richards	4
04/30/24 vs Bremen	3
03/25/24 vs Chattanooga Christian	3
03/27/25 @ Lincoln-Way East	2
05/20/24 vs Lincoln Park	2

Justin Gibbs was a standout: he went 3-for-5 with four runs and two RBI. Those four runs gave him a new career-high. Ashton Janowski was another key player, going 2-for-4 with five RBI.

They weren't the only ones making solid contact: Oak Forest kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. They are a perfect 3-0 when they post 11 or more hits.

Meanwhile, Hillcrest lost 24-1 to Lemont on Tuesday.

Hillcrest's defeat dropped their record down to 2-8. As for Oak Forest, they now have a winning record of 7-6-1.

Oak Forest took their win against Hillcrest when the teams last played back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 16-0 score. Do the Bengals have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Hawks turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.