Two squads on a backslide will look to right themselves before the postseason arrives on KCII3 Thursday night as the Highland Huskies (8-7, 5-3) host the Winfield-Mt. Union/Columbus Wolves (4-11, 4-6) in a Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division matchup.

After coming into the week undefeated in North Division play, Highland has dropped two games to Hillcrest and surrendered a blowout loss to Lone Tree, extending the Huskies’ overall losing streak to five. The Wolves have lost four of their last five, the lone win coming over 1-13 Wapello on Monday. With just over a week left before the first round of substate, both teams will look to right the ship Thursday night.

The two faced off earlier this year on June 6, when Highland took home a 4-2 road victory over the Wolves.

Winfield-Mt. Union/Columbus’ offense is powered by Riley Kaalberg, who has hit three home runs while slugging 0.809 in 2025. The rest of the Wolves’ lineup gets on base at a high clip, holding a .400 team on-base percentage, but they’ve struggled to take advantage of those baserunners, with no hitter in the WMU lineup outside of Kaalberg knocking in more than seven RBIs this season.

Junior duo Kason Dopler and Trevor Phillips lead the way on the mound for the Wolves. Phillips holds the most volume, tossing 21.1 innings through five starts, while Dopler is the team’s most efficient pitcher with a 1.79 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP.

Senior Logan McFarland and sophomore Landon Roling lead the Highland offense. McFarland is hitting .413 with an OBP of .481 and a 0.457 slugging percentage, while Roland is hitting .429 with a .520 OBP and a 0.452 SLG.

McFarland is also the Huskies’ ace pitcher, throwing a 1.83 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP through 23 innings of work.

Highland leads the series over Winfield-Mt. Union 25-6 since 2007, but WMU swept the series last year, for which Highland will look to return the favor Thursday night.

You can catch this edition of the KCII Area Game of the Week on the new KCII3 app and the KCII3 stream on KCIIradio.com. Coverage will begin at 5 p.m. with the Area Game of the Week Pregame show. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 live from Riverside.