Baseball Game Preview: Mount Ayr Raiders vs. Central Decatur Cardinals

The Mount Ayr Raiders will square off against the Central Decatur Cardinals on Monday. The timing is sure in Mount Ayr's favor as the squad sits on four straight wins at home while Central Decatur has been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.

Mount Ayr barely beat Wayne the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Raiders' pitchers stepped up to hand the Falcons an 11-0 shutout on Friday. The result was nothing new for the Raiders, who have now won five games by six runs or more so far this season.

Meanwhile, Central Decatur scored the most runs they've had this season on Thursday, but it wasn't enough. They came up short against East Union, falling 24-12. Even if the Cardinals couldn't come away with the win, the high-scoring effort was a great turnaround for their hitters, which had struggled int the games prior.

Mount Ayr is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 8-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.3 runs over those games. As for Central Decatur, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-9.

Everything went Mount Ayr's way against Central Decatur in their previous meeting back in June of 2024, as Mount Ayr made off with a 13-0 win. Do the Raiders have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Cardinals turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.