Baseball Game Preview: Peoria Panthers vs. Agua Fria Owls

For the second straight game, Peoria will face off against Agua Fria. The Panthers will look to defend their home field on Thursday against the Owls at 3:45 p.m. Peoria has given up an average of 14.1 runs per game this season, but Thursday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.

The home team had won the previous three meetings between Peoria and Agua Fria, and Agua Fria kept the tradition alive. The Panthers took an 11-7 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Owls on Tuesday.

For Agua Fria's part, Aldo Ohlmaier made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out seven batters over 3.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. Ohlmaier has become a key player for Agua Fria: the team is 2-1 when he allows at most two earned runs, but 2-9 otherwise. Ohlmaier was also big at the plate, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one triple, one stolen base, and two RBI. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played.

In other batting news, Dylan Lavin was incredible, going a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs and one triple. Those three runs gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Aidan Gomez, who scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Agua Fria kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 3 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 11.8.

Agua Fria has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups. That's provided a massive bump to their 4-10 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.3 runs over those games. As for Peoria, they dropped their record down to 1-9 with the loss, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season.