Baseball Game Preview: Oak Lawn Spartans vs. Nazareth Academy Roadrunners

The Oak Lawn Spartans will head out on the road to square off against the Nazareth Academy Roadrunners at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Oak Lawn is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They walked away with a 4-1 victory over Riverside-Brookfield.

John Olejniczak

Batters Struck Out

05/29/25 @ Riverside-Brookfield	7
05/19/25 vs Reavis	9
05/13/25 vs Evergreen Park	6
05/08/25 @ Oak Forest	9
04/30/25 vs Stagg	6
+ 4 more games

John Olejniczak made a big impact no matter where he played. He struck out seven batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off seven hits (and only one walk). He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in nine consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one double and one RBI.

Olejniczak wasn't the only one making solid contact as six players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Justin Canvin, who went 2-for-4 with one home run and two RBI. Another was Peyton Melnik, who went 1-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one double.

Meanwhile, Nazareth Academy waltzed into their contest on Tuesday with five straight wins... but they left with six. They were the clear victors by an 8-2 margin over the Argonauts. The Roadrunners might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 14 games by six runs or more this season.

Oak Lawn has been performing well recently as they've won 17 of their last 20 matches. That's provided a massive bump to their 23-13 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.4 runs over those games. As for Nazareth Academy, their victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 30-6.

Oak Lawn suffered a grim 13-7 defeat to Nazareth Academy in their previous matchup back in April. Can the Spartans avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.