Baseball Game Preview: Oak Lawn Spartans vs. Thornton Fractional South Red Wolves

The Oak Lawn Spartans will challenge the Thornton Fractional South Red Wolves at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Oak Lawn is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.3 runs per game this season.

Oak Lawn's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Shepard with a sharp 11-0 victory. The Spartans haven't had any issues with the Astros recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive win against them.

Justin Canvin made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits over four innings pitched. Canvin was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.

John Olejniczak

Runs

04/22/25 vs Shepard	2
04/15/25 vs Argo	2
04/01/25 @ Evergreen Park	2
03/21/25 @ Brooks	2
04/19/25 @ Plainfield Central	1
+ 5 more games

Canvin wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was John Olejniczak, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBI. Olejniczak is becoming a predictor of Oak Lawn's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 4-10 when he doesn't). Another was Peyton Melnik, who got on base in two of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and one RBI.

Oak Lawn was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .450. They are a perfect 5-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.

Meanwhile, Thornton Fractional South was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their sixth straight loss. They lost 14-1 to Tinley Park.

Thornton Fractional South's defeat dropped their record down to 4-12-1. As for Oak Lawn, their victory bumped their record up to 8-10.

Oak Lawn suffered a grim 7-1 defeat to Thornton Fractional South in their previous meeting back in April of 2024. Will the Spartans have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.