Baseball Preview: Oak Lawn Spartans vs. Hillcrest Hawks
Oak Lawn is 6-0 against Hillcrest since April of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Oak Lawn Spartans will head out on the road to square off against the Hillcrest Hawks at 4:30 p.m. Oak Lawn will be strutting in after a win while Hillcrest will be coming in after a defeat.
In what's become a running theme this season, Oak Lawn gave their fans yet another huge victory on Monday. They blew past Blue Island Eisenhower 12-2. The high-scoring effort was just what Oak Lawn needed considering they were shutout in their previous game.
Justin Canvin made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He pitched four innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits. Canvin has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. Canvin was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Ethan Collins was a standout: he went 2-for-3 with two runs, a triple, and two RBI. Another player making a difference was Charlie Cizek, who scored two runs while going 3-for-4.
Meanwhile, Hillcrest fell victim to Bremen and their airtight pitching crew on Monday. They lost 10-0 to the Braves. Hillcrest has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
The win got Oak Lawn back to even at 11-11. As for Hillcrest, their loss dropped their record down to 1-20.
Everything went Oak Lawn's way against Hillcrest in their previous meeting back in May of 2023 as Oak Lawn made off with a 19-1 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Oak Lawn since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
