Baseball Game Preview: Riverside-Brookfield Bulldogs vs. South Elgin Storm

The Riverside-Brookfield Bulldogs will head out on the road to face off against the South Elgin Storm at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The last three games Riverside-Brookfield has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

Riverside-Brookfield came out on top against Glenbard South on Tuesday thanks in part to the team's impressive four-run fourth inning. The Bulldogs won by a run and slipped past the Raiders 7-6. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Bulldogs have posted since April 23rd.

Meanwhile, South Elgin waltzed into their match on Tuesday with seven straight wins... but they left with eight. They walked away with a 5-2 win over the Sabres. Five seems to be a good number for the Storm as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Zacharia Barkho spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on four hits and racked up 12 Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than seven strikeouts in three consecutive appearances.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Connor Lund, who went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases and two runs. That's the most stolen bases he has posted over his last ten contests. Another player making a difference was Sam Cutinello, who went 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

South Elgin was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .379. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive games.

South Elgin's win was their eighth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 18-9. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.5 runs on average over those games. As for Riverside-Brookfield, their win bumped their record up to 17-11.