Baseball Game Preview: Nicolet Knights vs. Hartford Orioles

The Nicolet Knights will head out on the road to challenge the Hartford Orioles at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.

On Monday, Nicolet needed a bit of extra time to put away West Bend West. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past the Spartans 6-5. The victory was some much needed relief for the Knights as it spelled an end to their three-game losing streak.

Cole Fox

Hits (Career)

05/05/25 vs West Bend West	4
04/21/25 @ Grafton	2
06/04/24 vs Homestead	2
04/17/24 vs Cedarburg	2
04/14/25 @ West Bend West	1

The team relied heavily on Cole Fox, who went 4-for-5 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double. Those four hits gave him a new career-high. Ari Schupper also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.

Meanwhile, Hartford entered their tilt with Whitefish Bay on Monday with eight consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with nine. They beat the Blue Dukes by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 4-3.

Jack Perkowski tossed a big game, striking out six batters over 6.2 innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off seven hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in five consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Adian Kolb was excellent, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and one run. Another player making a difference was Ethan Birkel, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one stolen base and two RBI.

Hartford pushed their record up to 11-4 with the win, which was their seventh straight on the road. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.6 runs on average over those games. As for Nicolet, their record now sits at 4-11.

Nicolet suffered a grim 10-0 defeat to Hartford in their previous matchup back in April. Can the Knights avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.