The Charleston Trojans will square off against the Champaign Central Maroons at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Charleston has struggled recently with four defeats in a row, while Champaign Central will arrive with eight straight victories.
Charleston fought the good fight in their extra-innings matchup against Tolono Unity on Thursday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 4-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Rockets.
Quinn Taylor was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out six batters over eight innings while giving up just one earned run off seven hits. What's more, he gave up only two walks, the fewest he's had since back in April.
On the hitting side, Charleston saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Alex Matheny, who went 2-for-3 with one run.
Monticello typically has all the answers at home, but on Thursday Champaign Central proved too difficult a challenge. They walked away with a 4-1 win over the Sages.
Champaign Central pushed their record up to 19-11-1 with the victory, which was their fifth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.8 runs over those games. As for Charleston, their loss dropped their record down to 8-16.
Charleston was able to grind out a solid victory over Champaign Central when the teams last played back in May of 2023, winning 4-1. Will the Trojans repeat their success, or do the Maroons have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
