Baseball Game Preview: Athens Warriors vs. Pleasant Plains Cardinals

Athens hasn't had much luck against Pleasant Plains recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Warriors will be playing in front of their home fans against the Cardinals at 4:30 p.m. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Having struggled with four losses in a row, Athens turned things around against Rushville-Industry on Monday. They walked away with an 11-8 victory over the Rockets.

Davis Ishmael

Runs

04/21/25 @ Rushville-Industry	3
04/17/25 @ Riverton	3
04/08/25 @ Auburn	3
04/10/25 vs Maroa-Forsyth	1
04/07/25 vs Illini Bluffs	1
+ 3 more games

Davis Ishmael was a standout: he went 1-for-3 with three runs, one double, and one RBI. He is becoming a predictor of Athens' success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 2-1 (and 4-5 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Wyatt Gleason, who went 2-for-4 with four RBI.

Meanwhile, Pleasant Plains gave up the first runs on Monday, but they didn't let that get them down. They won by a run and slipped past Pawnee 4-3. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Cardinals.

Cooper Schallenberg and Grady Grisham did most of the damage at the plate: Schallenberg went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one double, while Grisham went 3-for-4 with two runs and one double.

Pleasant Plains' win bumped their record up to 13-3. As for Athens, the victory got them back to even at 6-6.

Athens suffered a grim 10-0 defeat to Pleasant Plains in their previous meeting back in May of 2024. Will the Warriors have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.