Baseball Game Preview: Moline Maroons vs. Normal Community Ironmen

The Moline Maroons will head out to take on the Normal Community Ironmen at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Moline is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Rock Island just ended the team's six-game winning streak on Friday. They fell just short of the Rocks by a score of 11-10.

Meanwhile, Normal Community waltzed into their game on Friday with four straight wins... but they left with five. They were the clear victors by an 11-1 margin over the Tigers. The Ironmen might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine matches by six runs or more this season.

Normal Community got a great performance from Tyler Swanson as he tossed five innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Swanson has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances.

At the plate, Andrew Naour was excellent, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs, two RBI, and one double. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in April. Gavin Borne also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.

Normal Community always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .559. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Urbana only posted an OBP of .316.

Moline's loss dropped their record down to 15-9. As for Normal Community, their record now sits at 19-4.

Moline couldn't quite finish off Normal Community in their previous meeting back in May of 2024 and fell 4-2. Can the Maroons avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.