Baseball Preview: Steeleville Warriors vs. Valmeyer Pirates
Steeleville has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will square off against the Valmeyer Pirates at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Tuesday, Steeleville had just enough and edged New Athens out 4-3.
Canon Ruby was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He struck out six batters over 5.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits. Ruby was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base and two RBI.
In other batting news, Carson Rednour was excellent, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Valmeyer came into Monday's match having lost three straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They blew past Gibault Catholic 8-1. The result was nothing new for Valmeyer, who have now won six matchups by six runs or more so far this season.
Like Steeleville, Valmeyer also got a great game from a two-way player: Luke Blackwell. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out 12 over seven innings pitched. Blackwell has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive pitching appearances. Blackwell was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, Chase Snyder was incredible, going 4-for-4 with a home run, five RBI, and three runs. Another player making a difference was Troy Neff, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Steeleville is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-6 record this season. As for Valmeyer, their victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 12-8.
Steeleville took their win against Valmeyer in their previous matchup on April 5th by a conclusive 14-4. The rematch might be a little tougher for Steeleville 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
