Baseball Game Preview: Lincoln-Way West Warriors vs. Homewood-Flossmoor Vikings

Warriors

Runs

04/14/25 @ Lincoln-Way East	7
04/12/25 @ Stagg	11
04/11/25 vs Lincoln-Way East	8
04/07/25 vs Stagg	18
04/02/25 vs Coffee	10
+ 7 more games

Lincoln-Way West is 7-1 against Homewood-Flossmoor since March of 2015 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Thursday. The Warriors will welcome the Vikings at 4:30 p.m. Lincoln-Way West is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 11.5 runs per game this season.

Lincoln-Way West is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Illinois' top teams: Lincoln-Way East, who was ranked seventh at the time (Lincoln-Way West was ranked fifth). The Warriors fell just short of the Griffins by a score of 8-7 on Monday. The matchup marked the Warriors' lowest-scoring game so far this season.

Conor Essenburg put in work no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Furthermore, he didn't allow a single walk, the first time he has blanked an opponent since back in March. He was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with one home run.

In other batting news, Michael Pettit and Quentin Lange did some serious damage despite the final result: Pettit went 2-for-5 with two stolen bases and one RBI, while Lange scored a run while going 2-for-4.

Meanwhile, Homewood-Flossmoor was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They took an 8-4 hit to the loss column at the hands of St. Rita.

Homewood-Flossmoor now has a losing record of 7-8. As for Lincoln-Way West, their loss was their first of the season and makes their record 11-1.

Lincoln-Way West took their win against Homewood-Flossmoor in their previous meeting back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 12-2 score. Do the Warriors have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Vikings turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.