Baseball Preview: St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans vs. Mattoon Greenwave
The St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans have the luxury of staying home for another game and will welcome the Mattoon Greenwave at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. St. Joseph-Ogden's pitching crew has only allowed 2.6 runs per game this season, so Mattoon's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
St. Joseph-Ogden is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Illinois' top teams: Monticello, who was ranked 19th in their home state at the time (St. Joseph-Ogden was ranked 12th). St. Joseph-Ogden fell 9-5 to Monticello on Monday. St. Joseph-Ogden has struggled against Monticello recently, as their match on Monday was their third consecutive lost matchup.
Meanwhile, Mattoon was able to grind out a solid win over Shelbyville on Monday, taking the game 6-1.
Jarret Muchow was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He struck out eight batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits. Muchow has been consistent recently: he hasn't pitched less than five innings in four consecutive pitching appearances. Muchow was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 1-for-2.
St. Joseph-Ogden's loss ended a nine-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 28-3. As for Mattoon, their victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 15-14.
St. Joseph-Ogden beat Mattoon 3-0 in their previous matchup back in May of 2023. Does St. Joseph-Ogden have another victory up their sleeve, or will Mattoon turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
