Baseball Game Preview: Lawrence Cardinals vs. Allentown Redbirds

Lawrence is 2-8 against Allentown since May of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Cardinals will host the Redbirds at 4:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Lawrence 3.6, Allentown 3.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Lawrence took a loss when they played away from home on Saturday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Princeton a 7-0 shutout. That looming 7-0 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Cardinals yet this season.

Lawrence got a great performance from C Crowley as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out seven over five innings pitched.

At the plate, Lawrence's win was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Ben Hauger, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with one triple and one run. Drew Dobkin also deserves some recognition as he scored his first run of the season.

Meanwhile, Allentown narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Hamilton 5-3. The win continues a trend for the Redbirds in their matchups with the Hornets: they've now won five in a row.

Lawrence pushed their record up to 4-3 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for Allentown, the victory got them back to even at 3-3.