vs
| 05/02/25 - Home | 2-7 L |
| 03/26/25 - Away | 9-5 W |
| 04/25/24 - Home | 18-3 W |
| 03/29/23 - Home | 14-3 W |
| 04/15/21 - Home | 6-4 W |
| + 5 more games |
Bellevue West has gone 8-2 against Omaha Central recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Thunderbirds will look to defend their home field against the Eagles at 5:00 p.m. Bellevue West's pitching crew has only allowed 2.9 runs per game this season, so Omaha Central's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Bellevue West is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nebraska's top teams: Creighton Prep, who was ranked 17th at the time (Bellevue West was ranked tenth). The Thunderbirds walked away with a 5-2 win over the Junior Jays on Monday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Thunderbirds.
Drew Grego made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI, one run, and one double.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Aiden Ensor, who went 2-for-3 with one triple and two RBI. That's the most RBI he has posted over his last 14 games. Jayden Kephart was another key player, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs.
Bellevue West was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .417. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Creighton Prep only posted a batting average of .259.
Meanwhile, while Omaha Central put up plenty of runs on Thursday, the same can't be said for Buena Vista. The Eagles were the clear victors by a 14-0 margin over the Bison. Considering the Eagles have won nine matchups by more than nine runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Grant Hamill tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run while striking out ten over five innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Omaha Central is 5-2 when he allows at most one earned run, but 9-13 otherwise.
At the plate, Luke Neujahr and Oscar Yuhas-Vining did most of the damage at the plate: Neujahr went 2-for-3 with four RBI, two runs, and one triple, while Yuhas-Vining went 2-for-3 with three runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. Omaha Central is 7-1 when Yuhas-Vining posts two or more runs, but 7-14 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Joe Dougherty, who went 1-for-2 with two runs and two RBI.
Bellevue West's victory bumped their record up to 19-9. As for Omaha Central, their win bumped their record up to 14-15.
Bellevue West couldn't quite get it done against Omaha Central in their previous matchup on Friday as they fell 7-2. Can the Thunderbirds avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
