Baseball Game Preview: Crete-Monee Warriors vs. Shepard Astros

The Crete-Monee Warriors will venture away from home to face off against the Shepard Astros at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Crete-Monee knows how to get runs on the board -- the team has finished with ten runs or more in their past five matches -- so hopefully Shepard likes a good challenge.

Crete-Monee's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They were the clear victors by a 17-0 margin over Thornridge. Considering the Warriors have won 18 games by more than six runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.

Bren Milburn

Runs

05/15/25 @ Rich Township	4
05/21/25 @ Thornridge	3
05/19/25 vs Thornridge	3
05/19/25 vs Thornridge	3
05/08/25 @ Thornwood	3
+ 19 more games

Bren Milburn was incredible, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with eight stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI. Crete-Monee is 15-1 when Milburn posts two or more runs, but 6-10 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Caden Wiley, who went 1-for-2 with five stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI.

Crete-Monee always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .621. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .500 or higher in five consecutive matchups.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Shepard, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Hancock with a sharp 11-1 victory on Friday. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Astros' hitters, who had struggled in the games prior.

Crete-Monee is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten contests. That's provided a massive bump to their 21-11 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.4 runs on average over those games. As for Shepard, the victory snapped their losing streak at six games and leaves them with a 12-16-2 record.

Everything went Crete-Monee's way against Shepard when the teams last played back in May of 2023, as Crete-Monee made off with a 13-4 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Warriors since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.