Hawthorne is 1-9 against Eastside since April of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Wednesday. The Hawthorne Hornets will host the Eastside Rams at 6:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hawthorne has three straight wins, Eastside has 13 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Hawthorne lost a heartbreaker the last time they played Bronson, but it's fair to say they got their revenge given the result of Tuesday's contest. Everything went Hawthorne's way against Bronson on Tuesday as Hawthorne made off with a 10-4 victory. With that win, the Hornets brought their scoring average up to 6.3 runs per game.
Connor Flinchum
| 03/11/25 vs Bronson | 1 |
| 02/14/25 @ St. John Lutheran | 1 |
Connor Flinchum and Tison Thomas made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, Flinchum struck out eight batters over 4.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. Meanwhile, Thomas tossed 2.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off one hit. Hawthorne is undefeated when Flinchum allowsone or fewer earned runs, but 2-5 otherwise. At the plate, Flinchum scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-4, while Thomas scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3. Thomas has been hot, having posted at least one stolen base the last five times he's played.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Branson Byrd, who scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in two of his three plate appearances. He has become a key player for Hawthorne: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 1-5 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Brody McAuley, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Hawthorne always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .515. They are a perfect 4-0 when they post an OBP of .513 or better.
Meanwhile, Eastside scored the most runs they've had this season on Tuesday, but it wasn't enough. They came up short against Countryside Christian, falling 18-10. Even if the Rams couldn't come away with the victory, the high-scoring effort was a great turnaround for their hitters, which had struggled int the games prior.
Eastside saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Asa Swenson, who scored two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Curtis Williams also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.
The win got Hawthorne back to even at 5-5. As for Eastside, their loss dropped their record down to 0-10.
Eastside's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Wednesday. Hawthorne has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.5 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Eastside, though, as they've been averaging only 3.6 strikeouts. Will Hawthorne keep running through batters, or will Eastside buck the trend?
Hawthorne took their victory against Eastside in their previous matchup two weeks ago by a conclusive 13-3. Will Hawthorne repeat their success, or does Eastside have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
