Baseball Recap: Illinois Valley Central Turns Things Around After Road Loss

There's no place like home for Illinois Valley Central, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. They walked away with a 7-2 victory over the Rantoul Eagles on Saturday. The win continues a trend for the Grey Ghosts in their matchups with the Eagles: they've now won six in a row.

Keegan Schol spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on three hits and racked up nine Ks.

At the plate, Illinois Valley Central got a massive performance out of Gabe Perez, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with three runs and two RBI. That's the most runs Perez has posted since back in April. The team also got some help courtesy of Brody Garceau, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs.

Illinois Valley Central was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .394. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Rantoul only posted a batting average of .143.

Grey Ghosts

Previous 3 Games (Home)

05/03/25 vs Rantoul	7-2
04/30/25 vs Hall	2-1
04/29/25 vs Midwest Central	9-0

Illinois Valley Central pushed their record up to 14-10 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Rantoul, with the loss, they broke their five-game winning streak and moved their record to 10-9.

We've got plenty of inter-conference action coming up soon. Illinois Valley Central is set to square off against their familiar foe Prairie Central at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. Meanwhile, Rantoul will take on rival Paxton-Buckley-Loda at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.