Baseball Game Preview: East St. Louis Flyers vs. Belleville East Lancers

East St. Louis hasn't had much luck against Belleville East recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Flyers will head out to take on the Lancers at 4:30 p.m. East St. Louis has given up an average of 11.4 runs per game this season, but Tuesday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.

East St. Louis lost 14-4 to Metro-East Lutheran on Friday. That's two games in a row now that the Flyers have lost by exactly ten runs.

Meanwhile, Belleville East came tearing into Monday's matchup with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 10.4 runs), and they left with even more momentum. They were the clear victors by an 11-1 margin over the Midgets. 11 seems to be a good number for the Lancers as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Reid Neumayer made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run over four innings pitched. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with three runs, one triple, and one double.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Brody Lindemann, who went 2-for-4 with four RBI and one double. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in April of 2024. Jalen Jones also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.

Belleville East always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .515. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Freeburg only posted an OBP of .333.

Belleville East pushed their record up to 12-3 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.5 runs on average over those games. As for East St. Louis, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 2-5.

East St. Louis might still be hurting after the 19-2 loss they got from Belleville East in their previous meeting back in April of 2024. Can the Flyers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.