Baseball Game Preview: East Peoria Raiders vs. Pekin Dragons

The East Peoria Raiders will face off against the Pekin Dragons at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. East Peoria's pitching crew has only allowed 2.7 runs per game this season, so Pekin's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

East Peoria is probably headed into the match with a chip on their shoulder considering Normal Community just ended the team's five-game winning streak on Saturday. They fell just short of the Ironmen by a score of 1-0. Having soared to a lofty 13 runs in the game before, the Raiders' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.

Not much got past R.J. Duncheon, who gave up just two hits to keep Normal Community off the board. Duncheon has been consistent for a while: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in nine consecutive appearances.

Meanwhile, Pekin was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fifth straight loss. They came up short against Tremont, falling 13-3. That's two games in a row now that the Dragons have lost by exactly ten runs.

Pekin saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Brady Bolen, who went 1-for-2 with one run and one RBI.

Pekin's defeat dropped their record down to 6-21. As for East Peoria, their loss dropped their record down to 22-8.

East Peoria took their victory against Pekin in their previous matchup back in May of 2024 by a conclusive 11-3 score. Will the Raiders repeat their success, or do the Dragons have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.