Baseball Game Preview: Southwestern Piasa Birds vs. Litchfield Purple Panthers

Southwestern has gone 8-2 against Litchfield recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Southwestern Piasa Birds will be defending their home field for the first time this season when they go up against the Litchfield Purple Panthers at 4:30 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Southwestern is coming home in high spirits after they had to open their season on the road against Maryville Christian. Southwestern blew past Maryville Christian 23-2 on Tuesday.

Ryan Lowis

Batters Struck Out

03/18/25 @ Maryville Christian	5
05/13/24 @ Marquette Catholic	3
04/27/24 vs Calhoun	6

Ryan Lowis made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. What's more, he posted five strikeouts, the most he's had since back in April of 2024. He was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring three runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

In other batting news, Ike Austin was a standout: he scored four runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Austin Bates, who scored two runs while going 2-for-2.

Southwestern always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .658. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Maryville Christian only posted an OBP of .188.

Meanwhile, after only two runs in their last contest, Litchfield made sure to put some runs up on the board against Lebanon on Wednesday. Everything went Litchfield's way against Lebanon as Litchfield made off with a 23-1 victory. The win continues a trend for the Purple Panthers in their matchups with the Greyhounds: they've now won three in a row.

The team relied heavily on Titan Hires, who went 3-for-4 with four runs, two doubles, and one triple. Ryker Witt was another key player, going 2-for-3 with four RBI, two runs, and one stolen base.

Southwestern skirted past Litchfield 2-0 when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Will Southwestern repeat their success, or does Litchfield have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.