Hillsboro has won four straight games at home, while Central has won four straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Wednesday. The Hawks will welcome the Tigers at 4:30 p.m. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Hillsboro's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They blew past Northwest 10-0. The Hawks haven't had any issues with the Lions recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive victory against them.
Jackson Marks looked comfortable as he tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. He also tossed a walk, which is notable because Hillsboro is 3-1 when he allows at most one walk, but 7-9 otherwise.
Aidan Roland
| 03/22/25 @ Ste. Genevieve | 3 |
| 04/29/25 vs Northwest | 2 |
| 04/15/25 vs Jefferson | 2 |
| 04/12/25 @ Washington | 2 |
| 04/09/25 @ DeSoto | 2 |
| + 3 more games |
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Aidan Roland, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. Hillsboro is 6-1 when Roland posts two or more runs, but 4-9 otherwise. George Heine was another key player, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and one double.
Meanwhile, Central was able to grind out a solid win over Kelly on Monday, taking the game 5-1.
Central's victory was truly a team effort as seven different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Jathan Spain, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and one RBI. Another was Hayden Bowers, who went 1-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Central kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 5.5 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 contests they've averaged 9.4.
Central is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matchups. That's provided a massive bump to their 9-8 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for Hillsboro, the victory got them back to even at 10-10.
Hillsboro was able to grind out a solid win over Central in their previous meeting back in April of 2024, winning 7-2. Will the Hawks repeat their success, or do the Tigers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
