Baseball Recap: Deer Creek-Mackinaw Victorious

It may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but Deer Creek-Mackinaw ultimately got the result they hoped for on Thursday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the El Paso-Gridley Titans, sneaking past 6-5. The game snapped a strange streak: the last four times these teams have met, it?s been the away team that?s taken home the W.

Lucas Holly looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. He also tossed no walks, which is notable because Deer Creek-Mackinaw is undefeated when he allows at most one walk, but 1-5 otherwise.

Shane Correll

Runs Batted In (Career)

04/10/25 vs El Paso-Gridley	3
04/10/24 @ El Paso-Gridley	2
03/15/24 vs Illini Central	2
04/18/24 vs Tri-Valley	1
04/17/24 vs Lexington	1

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Shane Correll, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI and one double. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Tug Lester, who scored two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Deer Creek-Mackinaw's record now sits at 4-5. As for El Paso-Gridley, they dropped their record down to 2-8 with the loss, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season.

Deer Creek-Mackinaw and El Paso-Gridley could both be facing uphill battles in their next games considering their disadvantage in the MaxPreps Illinois Rankings. The Chiefs (ranked 376th) will meet Eureka (ranked 35th) at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, El Paso-Gridley will challenge Fieldcrest at 4:00 p.m. on Friday with a big rank disadvantage (389 vs. 168).