Baseball Game Preview: Prairie Central Hawks vs. Illinois Valley Central Grey Ghosts

The Prairie Central Hawks are taking a road trip to take on the Illinois Valley Central Grey Ghosts at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. Prairie Central is coming into the match on a six-game losing streak.

Saturday just wasn't the day for Prairie Central's offense. They came up short against Herscher on Saturday, falling 10-0.

Easton Friedman

Stolen Base

05/03/25 vs Herscher	1
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Prairie Central saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Easton Friedman, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base and one double. Friedman is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now snagged at least one in each of the last three games he's played.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Illinois Valley Central, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. They came out on top against Rantoul by a score of 7-2 on Saturday. The victory continues a trend for the Grey Ghosts in their matchups with the Eagles: they've now won six in a row.

Keegan Schol spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on three hits and racked up nine Ks.

At the plate, Illinois Valley Central got a massive performance out of Gabe Perez, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with three runs and two RBI. That's the most runs Perez has posted since back in April. The team also got some help courtesy of Brody Garceau, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs.

Illinois Valley Central was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .394. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Rantoul only posted a batting average of .143.

Illinois Valley Central's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-10. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Prairie Central, their loss dropped their record down to 5-17.

Prairie Central came up short against Illinois Valley Central when the teams last played back in April of 2024, falling 5-1. Can the Hawks avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.