Baseball Game Preview: Anna Rockets vs. Indian Lake Lakers

The Anna Rockets will face off against the Indian Lake Lakers at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Anna has six straight victories, Indian Lake has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

On Thursday, Anna earned a 6-1 win over Milton-Union.

Meanwhile, Indian Lake fought the good fight in their extra-innings match against West Liberty-Salem on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Tigers by a score of 7-6.

Madden Lillard was huge while hitting and pitching even without the win. He struck out six batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and four unearned) runs off eight hits (and only one walk). He also tossed a walk, which is notable because Indian Lake is 4-2 when he allows at most one walk, but 6-8 otherwise. Lillard was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and one double.

Lillard wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Brady Golliday, who went 1-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. Tyler Tidwell also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.

Anna pushed their record up to 16-7 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Indian Lake, their loss dropped their record down to 10-10.

Anna came out on top in a nail-biter against Indian Lake in their previous matchup back in April of 2023, sneaking past 7-5. Do the Rockets have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Lakers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.