Baseball Game Preview: Lincolnwood Lancers vs. Shelbyville Rams

The Lincolnwood Lancers will take on the Shelbyville Rams at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

While Lincolnwood's win against Carlinville wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. Lincolnwood never let Carlinville get on the board and left with a 1-0 victory on Tuesday. The Lancers haven't had any issues with the Cavaliers recently, as the game was their third consecutive win against them.

Not much got past Brodey VanHooser, who gave up just five hits and racked up 12 Ks to keep Carlinville off the board.

On the hitting side, Lincolnwood's victory was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Luke Pope, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.

Meanwhile, Shelbyville put another one in the bag on Tuesday to keep their perfect season alive. They put the hurt on Tri-County [Kansas/Shiloh/Oakland] with a sharp 11-1 win.

Shelbyville pushed their record up to 5-0 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Lincolnwood, their victory (their first of the season) made their record 1-3.

Everything went Lincolnwood's way against Shelbyville in their previous matchup back in March of 2024, as Lincolnwood made off with an 8-2 win. Does Lincolnwood have another victory up their sleeve, or will Shelbyville turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.