vs
| 05/06/24 - Home | 9-6 W |
| 05/08/23 - Away | 4-3 W |
| 05/09/22 - Home | 15-0 W |
| 06/04/21 - Away | 13-7 W |
Salt Fork has gone a perfect 4-0 against Iroquois West recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Monday. The Storm will face off against the Raiders at 4:30 p.m. Salt Fork is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last four games.
Salt Fork took a 15-run defeat the last time they faced off against Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin, but this time they managed to keep it close and that made all the difference. The Storm sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 1-0 victory over the Blue Devils on Friday. That's two games straight that the Storm have won by just one run.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Iroquois West, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. They came out on top against Grant Park by a score of 10-7 on Saturday. With that win, the Raiders brought their scoring average up to 6.3 runs per game.
Julian Melgoza made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he struck out eight batters over 5.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April of 2024. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in two of his four plate appearances with two runs and one RBI. He is becoming a predictor of Iroquois West's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 7-12 when he doesn't).
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Caleb Fauser, who went 2-for-3 with four stolen bases and three runs. He has become a key player for Iroquois West: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 7-12 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Brody Mueller, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base and two RBI.
Iroquois West always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .556. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive games.
Salt Fork's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 16-7. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Iroquois West, they moved to 10-12 with that victory, which also ended their three-game losing streak.
Salt Fork was able to grind out a solid win over Iroquois West in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, winning 9-6. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Storm since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
