Baseball Game Preview: East Central Eagles vs. Pine City Dragons

East Central is 2-8 against Pine City since April of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Eagles will be playing at home against the Dragons at 4:30 p.m. East Central will be strutting in after a win while Pine City will be coming in after a defeat.

While East Central's victory against McGregor wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Eagles had just enough and edged out the Mercuries 11-10 on Wednesday. The win was some much needed relief for the Eagles as it spelled an end to their three-game losing streak.

Oliver Carlin was a major factor no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing 1.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He is becoming a predictor of East Central's success: when he allows at most one hit the team is 2-1 (and 3-8 when he doesn't). Carlin was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-4 with three stolen bases and two runs. Those three stolen bases gave him a new career-high.

In other batting news, East Central got a massive performance out of Shaw Youngberg, who went 2-for-3 with three stolen bases, three runs, and two RBI. That's the most hits Youngberg has posted since back in April. Another player making a difference was Cale Jensen, who went 3-for-4 with four RBI and one double.

East Central was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .412. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive matches.

Aitkin hit Pine City with a seven-run fifth inning on Tuesday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Dragons lost 16-4 to the Gobblers. The Dragons have struggled against the Gobblers recently, as the game was their ninth consecutive lost meeting.

East Central's victory bumped their record up to 5-9. As for Pine City, their loss dropped their record down to 4-11.

East Central couldn't quite get it done against Pine City in their previous meeting on Monday as they fell 5-1. Can the Eagles avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.