After four games on the road, Washington is heading back home. They will take on the Illinois Valley Central Grey Ghosts at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Washington owes their pitching crew a big pat on the back after their performance on Wednesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against LaSalle-Peru and snuck past 1-0.
Washington got a great performance from Braden Vanderheydt as he didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out eight over five innings pitched. Gavin Lawrence came in to relieve Vanderheydt and was airtight, giving up no runs, hits or walks in his three innings pitched.
On the hitting side, Washington's win was truly a team effort as two different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Micha McCoy, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Meanwhile, Illinois Valley Central came tearing into Thursday's game with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4.3 runs) and they left with even more momentum. Everything went their way against the Indians as they made off with an 11-1 victory. Considering Illinois Valley Central has won four matchups by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Mason Marchand made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run over four innings pitched. Marchand was even better at the plate, scoring four runs and stealing a base while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Cole Yates, who scored three runs while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Derek Moore, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Washington's win bumped their record up to 3-1. As for Illinois Valley Central, they pushed their record up to 6-2 with that victory, which was their third straight on the road.
Washington was able to grind out a solid win over Illinois Valley Central in their previous meeting back in April of 2022, winning 4-0. Does Washington have another victory up their sleeve, or will Illinois Valley Central turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
