Benton is on an eight-game streak of home losses, and Frankfort a seven-game streak of away losses. However, someone's due for a change in luck on Friday. The Benton Rangers will look to defend their home field against the Frankfort Redbirds at 4:30 p.m. The two teams are out to turn their luck around after having lost tight contests in their previous games.
Benton came into this matchup off a tough 11-run loss on Tuesday. This time they kept things ultra-competitive, but unfortunately the final result was the same. They fell just short of Herrin by a score of 5-3 on Thursday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat the Rangers have suffered since April 23, 2024.
Kruz Koester was huge no matter where he played even without the win. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run over 5.1 innings pitched. What's more, he gave up only three walks, the fewest he's had since back in March. He was also big at the plate, going 1-for-2 with two runs and one stolen base.
Koester wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Hunter Irvin, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two stolen bases and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Frankfort didn't have quite enough to beat Zeigler-Royalton on Wednesday and fell 6-4. That's two games in a row now that the Redbirds have lost by exactly two runs.
Benton's loss dropped their record down to 4-16. As for Frankfort, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-13.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
