Baseball Game Preview: Normal Community Ironmen vs. Richwoods Knights

Normal Community is on a nine-game streak of home wins, while Richwoods is on a four-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Ironmen will welcome the Knights at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. Normal Community is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.8 runs per game this season.

Normal Community proved they can win big on Friday (they won by ten) and on Saturday they proved they can win the close ones too. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Washington, sneaking past 5-3. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Ironmen have posted since April 8th.

Normal Community got a great performance from Lucas Beaty as he struck out seven batters over 4.1 innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits (and not a single walk). Those seven strikeouts gave Beaty a new career-high.

On the hitting side, Kyle Beaty and Carter Harris did most of the damage at the plate: Kyle went 1-for-3 with one home run and two runs, while Harris went 2-for-3 with one triple, two RBI, and one double. That's the most RBI Harris has posted since back in March. Max Heineman was another key player, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

Normal Community always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .520. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Washington only posted an OBP of .294.

Meanwhile, Richwoods made easy work of El Paso-Gridley on Thursday and carried off a 15-3 victory.

Normal Community's win bumped their record up to 14-4. As for Richwoods, their victory bumped their record up to 12-6.

Everything went Normal Community's way against Richwoods when the teams last played back in April of 2024, as Normal Community made off with a 17-0 win. Do the Ironmen have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Knights turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.