Baseball Recap: Normal Community Extends Winning Streak to Five

Ironmen

Margin (Wins)

04/28/26 @ Centennial	17
04/13/26 @ Danville	13
04/08/26 vs Peoria Notre Dame	13
04/29/26 vs Normal West	10
04/25/26 vs Rock Island	10

Normal Community won the last time they faced Normal West and things went their way on Thursday too. The Ironmen put the hurt on the Wildcats with a sharp 7-1 victory. The result was nothing new for the Ironmen, who have now won 14 games by six runs or more so far this season.

Josh Jones tossed a big game, striking out 15 batters over six innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Those 15 strikeouts gave him a new career-high.

At the plate, Andrew Naour was incredible, going a perfect 3-for-3 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI. Those two stolen bases gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Gavin Michaels, who got on base in three of his five plate appearances with three stolen bases and one run.

The win (which was Normal Community's fifth in a row) raised their record to 18-2. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.2 runs over those games. As for Normal West, they are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 13-9.

Normal Community and Normal West should be looking forward to their upcoming games as both have a sizable advantage in the MaxPreps Illinois Rankings. The Ironmen will challenge Richwoods at 4:30 p.m. on Friday with a big rank advantage (11 vs. 303). Meanwhile, Normal West (ranked 157th) will meet Peoria (ranked 614th) at 4:00 p.m. on Monday.