Baseball Preview: Marian Catholic Spartans vs. Illiana Christian Vikings
The Marian Catholic Spartans will be playing at home against the Illiana Christian Vikings at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Marian Catholic has now lost nine straight, leaving the team hunting for their first win since April 13.
On Wednesday, it was a hard-fought match, but Marian Catholic had to settle for a 4-3 defeat against Glenbrook North.
Matt Gonzalez made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 2-for-2 with a home run, two RBI, and a double.
Meanwhile, Illiana Christian beat Whiting 5-2 on Tuesday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Illiana Christian.
The team relied heavily on Isaac VanderWoude, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Tyler Balkema, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4.
Marian Catholic's loss dropped their record down to 6-19. As for Illiana Christian, their victory bumped their record up to 11-3.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Marian Catholic has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.8 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Illiana Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 8.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Marian Catholic might still be hurting after the 10-3 defeat they got from Illiana Christian in their previous meeting back in May of 2023. Thankfully for Marian Catholic, Kevin Corcoran (who struck out nine batters over 5.1 innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off six hits) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
