Baseball Game Preview: Bartlett Hawks vs. Riverside-Brookfield Bulldogs

The Bartlett Hawks will square off against the Riverside-Brookfield Bulldogs at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

If Bartlett beats Riverside-Brookfield with 11 runs on Thursday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two matches with that exact score. The Hawks beat Larkin on Tuesday by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 11-1. The victory continues a trend for the Hawks in their matchups with the Royals: they've now won three in a row.

Joe Kennedy

Hits Against

04/23/25 vs Glenbard South	4
04/19/25 vs St. Francis	4
04/05/25 vs Huntley	4
03/29/25 vs Wheaton-Warrenville South	4
03/26/25 vs Batavia	2
+ 4 more games

Joe Kennedy spent all six innings played on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered a run (which was unearned) on one hit and racked up six Ks. He has become a key player for Bartlett: the team is 2-1 when he allows at most one hit, but 8-12-1 otherwise.

At the plate, Bartlett let Austin Daubenmire and Josh Colaizzi run wild. Daubenmire got on base in all four of his plate appearances with three runs, one stolen base, and one double, while Colaizzi went 2-for-4 with two triples, two runs, and two RBI. Bartlett is 6-1 when Colaizzi posts two or more runs, but 4-12-1 otherwise. Ethan Ratajczyk also deserves some recognition as he brought in his first RBI of the season.

Bartlett kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. They are a perfect 5-0 when they post 11 or more hits.

Meanwhile, Riverside-Brookfield came tearing into Wednesday's contest with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.3 runs), and they left with even more momentum. They walked away with a 4-1 win over the Rams.

Riverside-Brookfield pushed their record up to 15-5 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.5 runs on average over those games. As for Bartlett, their victory bumped their record up to 10-13-1.