Baseball Game Preview: O'Fallon Panthers vs. Belleville East Lancers

O'Fallon has gone 8-2 against Belleville East recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Tuesday. The Panthers will look to defend their home field against the Lancers at 4:30 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (O'Fallon 3.7, Belleville East 2.9) so any runs scored will be well earned.

O'Fallon barely beat Freeburg the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Panthers were the clear victors by an 11-1 margin over the Midgets on Monday. The victory continues a trend for the Panthers in their matchups with the Midgets: they've now won nine in a row.

Drew Vanderheyden looked comfortable as he tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits.

Brayden Robertson

Hits (Career)

04/28/25 @ Freeburg	3
04/22/25 @ Belleville West	2
04/09/25 @ Mascoutah	2
03/25/25 vs Waterloo	2
03/22/25 vs Joliet Catholic	2

On the hitting side, O'Fallon let Dane Hrasky and Brayden Robertson run wild. Hrasky went 2-for-4 with two runs and one triple, while Robertson went 3-for-4 with two RBI and one double. Those three hits gave Robertson a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Sam McCollum, who went 1-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI.

O'Fallon was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .393. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Freeburg only posted a batting average of .211.

Meanwhile, Belleville East has relied on a stalwart pitchers averaging 2.91 runs allowed per game, but that average took a hit on Saturday. They came up short against Father McGivney Catholic, falling 12-1. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest defeat the Lancers have suffered since May 23, 2024.

Belleville East's loss ended a seven-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 16-7. As for O'Fallon, their win bumped their record up to 15-4.

Everything went O'Fallon's way against Belleville East in their previous matchup back in May of 2024, as O'Fallon made off with an 8-1 victory. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Lancers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.