The Carterville Lions will look to take advantage of their home field for the first time this season as they take on the Carmi-White County Bulldogs at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Carterville is coming home in high spirits after they had to open their season on the road against Eldorado. Everything went Carterville's way against Eldorado on Wednesday as Carterville made off with a 27-4 win. The Lions have beaten the Eagles the last seven times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Eagles has come to flipping the script.
Aidan Swallers was a major factor no matter where he played. He tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Swallers was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-2. That's the most runs he has posted since back in March of 2024.

Logan Ingle
| 03/19/25 @ Eldorado | 3 |
| 04/22/24 vs Murphysboro | 2 |
| 04/12/24 vs Herrin | 4 |
In other batting news, Carterville let Alex Kimbrough and Logan Ingle run wild. Kimbrough got on base in five of his six plate appearances with one home run, four runs, and three RBI, while Ingle went 3-for-5 with one home run, five RBI, and three runs. That's the most hits Ingle has posted since back in April of 2024. Another player making a difference was Drake Capie, who scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Carmi-White County hadn't done well against Benton recently (they were 1-7 in their previous eight matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Carmi-White County never let Benton get on the board and left with a 10-0 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Bulldogs.
Merick Milhorn made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out seven over 4.2 innings pitched. Milhorn was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Cade Allen, who went 1-for-2 with one home run, two runs, and one stolen base. Travor Mason was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing Two bases. while going 1-for-2.
Carmi-White County was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .391. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Benton only posted a batting average of .062.
Carterville couldn't quite finish off Carmi-White County in their previous meeting back in March of 2024 and fell 7-5. Will Carterville have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.