Baseball Game Preview: Connersville Spartans vs. East Central Trojans

The Connersville Spartans will take on the East Central Trojans at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Connersville will be strutting in after a win while East Central will be coming in after a defeat.

If Connersville beats East Central with five runs on Monday, it's going to be the squad's new lucky number: they've won their past two games with that exact score. The Spartans came out on top in a nail-biter against Silver Creek on Saturday, sneaking past 5-3. While the Spartans didn't have the best season last year (they finished 11-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

The team relied heavily on Parker Flanigan, who went 2-for-3 with one home run and three RBI. That home run was his first of the season. Another player making a difference was Brayden Keller, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base.

Meanwhile, East Central came up short against Batesville on Thursday and fell 8-4. That's two games in a row now that the Trojans have lost by exactly four runs.

East Central saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Vinny Keck, who went 3-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI. Cole Reynolds was another, going 1-for-3 with one stolen base, one double, and one RBI.

Connersville is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 6.4 runs over those games. As for East Central, their loss ended a six-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 3-4.

Connersville might still be hurting after the 9-0 defeat they got from East Central in their previous matchup back in April of 2024. Can the Spartans avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.