The Belleville West Maroons will head out to face off against the O'Fallon Panthers at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Belleville West is coming into the game hot, having won their last three games.
Belleville West had to skate by with only a one-run margin when they last took the field, which might have inspired the ten-run drubbing they dealt Granite City on Wednesday. The Maroons blew past the Warriors 12-2.
Lucas Allen made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over four innings pitched. Those six strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in two of his three plate appearances with one run and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Casey Fultz, who got on base in all three of his plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and one double. Adam Bilzing was another key player, going 2-for-3 with three RBI and one run.
Belleville West always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .618. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, O'Fallon didn't have quite enough to beat Columbia on Wednesday and fell 2-1. The defeat continues a trend for the Panthers in their meetings with the Eagles: they've now lost three in a row.
O'Fallon also got a good showing from Jackson Greene, who pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. That's the fewest hits Greene has allowed since April 1st.
On the hitting side, O'Fallon saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Dane Hrasky, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base.
Belleville West's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-6. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.8 runs over those games. As for O'Fallon, their loss dropped their record down to 13-4.
Belleville West came out on top in a nail-biter against O'Fallon in their previous meeting on Tuesday, sneaking past 5-4. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Maroons since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
