Baseball Game Preview: Van Buren County Warriors vs. Central Lee Hawks

The Van Buren County Warriors will venture away from home to challenge the Central Lee Hawks at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Van Buren County's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Danville with a sharp 7-0 win.

Meanwhile, Central Lee had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. They walked away with a 4-0 victory over the Tigers.

Van Buren County has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a massive bump to their 5-6 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.0 runs over those games. As for Central Lee, their victory bumped their record up to 7-2.

Van Buren County couldn't quite get it done against Central Lee when the teams last played back in June of 2024 as they fell 5-0. Can the Warriors avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.