The Lincoln-Way West Warriors will head out on the road to square off against the Marist RedHawks at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Lincoln-Way West's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Shepard with a sharp 13-0 win. The Warriors have beaten the Astros the last four times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Astros has come to flipping the script.
Adam Gerl looked comfortable as he struck out eight batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (and not a single walk). The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in walks (zero).
On the hitting side, Conor Essenburg was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing three bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. That's the most runs he has posted since back in April of 2024. Jackson Mansker was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one home run and three RBI.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Marist, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. They were the clear victors by a 10-0 margin over Homewood-Flossmoor on Monday.
Marist also got a great performance from Aidan Flinn as he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 12 over five innings pitched.
At the plate, Ryan Lawlor and Brendan Doran did most of the damage at the plate: Lawlor scored three runs and stole three bases while going 1-for-4, while Doran scored three runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Charlie Dunneback, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Lincoln-Way West's victory was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 2-0.the team's perfect season has a lot to do with their hitting performance: the team won's by an average of 9.5 runs thus far As for Marist, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
Lincoln-Way West was able to grind out a solid win over Marist when the teams last played back in March of 2024, winning 5-2. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lincoln-Way West since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
