The Vilonia Eagles will take on the Batesville Pioneers at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Vilonia will bounce into Thursday's matchup after beating Greenbrier, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Vilonia walked away with a 6-3 win over Greenbrier on Tuesday. The game was the first time the Eagles have beaten the Panthers on their field since April 9, 2019.
Vilonia's victory was truly a team effort as seven different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Coleson Ashcraft, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-4. John Mason Halley was another, going 1-for-3 with two stolen bases and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Batesville entered their tilt with Paragould on Tuesday with two consecutive wins , and they'll enter their next game with three. They walked away with an 8-4 win over the Rams.
Cole Bentz was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he tossed seven innings while giving up four earned runs off seven hits. Bentz was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-2 with one triple, two RBI, and one run. That triple marked the first that he hit this season.
In other batting news, Gabe Bledsoe was incredible, scoring three 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. Another player making a difference was Landon Box, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3.
Batesville was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .375. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .304 or higher in three consecutive games.
Batesville's victory bumped their record up to 3-1. As for Vilonia, the win got them back to even at 2-2.
Vilonia couldn't quite finish off Batesville in their previous meeting back in April of 2018 and fell 8-6. Can Vilonia avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
