Baseball Game Preview: Aquinas Falcons vs. Villa Park Spartans

The Aquinas Falcons will challenge the Villa Park Spartans at 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Aquinas is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last ten games.

Aquinas' pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed last Tuesday. They had just enough and edged out Woodcrest Christian 1-0.

Meanwhile, Villa Park had already proven themselves in the regular season and they didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They had just enough and edged out Bishop Amat 8-7 on Thursday. The Spartans haven't had any issues with the Lancers recently, as the game was their third consecutive win against them.

Jake Nobles made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up a single earned run in ten consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with one home run and three RBI. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in April.

In other batting news, Shawn Romero was excellent, going 2-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI. Another player making a difference was Dominic Gutierrez, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base.

Villa Park pushed their record up to 23-6 with the victory, which was their 11th straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games. As for Aquinas, their victory bumped their record up to 25-2.

Aquinas' speedy runners might be the difference in Tuesday's game. The Falcons have been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.3 stolen bases per game. It's a different story for Villa Park, though, as they've been averaging only 0.8 stolen bases. Will they be able to secure the bases, or will Aquinas continue to outrun the ball? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.