Highland and Hillcrest will begin their postseason journeys on Saturday in a playoff baseball doubleheader on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCII2.
The Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division champion Hillcrest Academy Ravens (13-7, 11-2) will kick off the day with a clash against the HLV Warriors (6-10, 6-10).
The Ravens have won eight of their last nine games, the lone loss coming to Burlington Notre Dame. Over that stretch, the Ravens have been dominant defensively, collecting six shutouts.
Their defense is led by their star duo of pitchers, Phoenix Anderson and Seth Ours. Ours has delivered a pair of no-hitters this season and leads the class with a 0.50 WHIP, while Anderson owns the third-best ERA in class 1A at 0.46.
Hillcrest has also found its footing offensively as of late, including the first home runs for both Mason Bender and Mason Helmuth in a 17-6 victory over West Burlington on Monday’s edition of the Area Game of The Week.
Hillcrest Head Coach Danny Hershberger discussed the recent emergence of his squad’s offense, “We were a little bit frustrated early in the year with how things were going at the plate, and to see the guys put their heads down and really work at it, to see that pay off with scoring a few more runs per game and take advantage of hitting guys in when there are guys on base and with two outs, it’s been huge for us these past couple weeks.”
Liam Schrock is the team’s most powerful hitter, with three home runs on the year, while Rowan Miller is the Ravens’ most consistent hitter with a .348 AVG and a .436 OBP.
The Highland Huskies (8-4, 11-9) will play the English Valleys Bears (0-17, 0-16) in the nightcap.
Highland controlled its destiny just two weeks ago, but three consecutive losses, including two to Hillcrest, ended the Huskies’ hopes of a division title and forced them to refocus on the postseason. They’ve gone 3-2 since that skid, dropping games to Pekin and, most recently, Wilton.
The trio of Logan McFarland, Bryce Hazelett and Colton Sypherd lead the way on the mound for Highland. Each member of the trio has thrown over twenty innings for the Huskies in 2025. Sypherd owns the lowest ERA among Highland’s qualified pitchers at 1.75, while he and McFarland lead the team with 1.00 WHIP. Hazelett is less efficient, but has more volume, with the most innings pitched and batters faced.
Highland head coach Allen Rath said that run prevention would be crucial to his team’s postseason hopes, “If we can play solid defense we can beat anybody. There are teams where, on paper, we may not be able to stick around, but we can stick around with people, make them nervous, and make some noise.”
Sophomore Landon Roling has powered the Huskies’ offense, leading the team with a .379 AVG, a .471 OBP and a 0.414 SLG.
Both games will be held at Highland High School, where the winners of each game will also play each other on Tuesday.
The countdown to first pitch will begin with the pregame show at 4:30 p.m. First pitch between Hillcrest and HLV is scheduled for 5 live from Riverside, with Highland/English Valleys to follow at a tentative start time of 7.