The newly-crowned District 9 Champions, the Hillcrest Academy Ravens (16-7), are one game away from a state tournament berth, with only their division rivals, the Pekin Panthers (12-9), remaining in their path.

The Ravens earned their district championship on Saturday afternoon by holding off a late comeback by the No. 2 Sigourney Savages, completing the 5-4 upset with a Rowan Miller save. Pekin won District 10 in a pitchers’ duel, taking a 2-1 victory over the New London Tigers.

Star Raven pitcher Phoenix Anderson is expected to make the start on Tuesday with fellow starter Seth Ours unavailable due to pitch count limitations. Anderson ended the regular season in the top five of Class 1A in both ERA and WHIP, although he slipped out of the top five in both categories after Hillcrest’s 8-4 second-round victory over division rival Highland.

Miller leads the way with a .333 average and a .446 on-base percentage at the plate for Hillcrest, while senior Liam Schrock provides the most pop at the plate, hitting three of the team’s five home runs. As a team, Hillcrest boasts a patient lineup, collecting 115 walks on the season to give the Ravens a .393 OBP.

Sophomore Henry Adam and junior Nolan Glick provide a similar one-two punch on the mound for Pekin. Adam leads the team with 50 innings pitched, a .130 opponent batting average, a 0.98 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP, while Glick comes in a narrow second in each stat.

Sophomore Alijah Brock is the Panthers’ most consistent hitter with a .446 AVG and a .483 OBP. Glick provides the most power of any hitter in Pekin’s lineup, hitting three home runs on his way to a 0.516 slugging percentage.

When asked what his team would need to do to make it to the state tournament, Hillcrest Head Coach Danny Hershberger said that the Ravens just needed to continue doing what’s already working, “Throwing good pitches, playing great defense behind it, and our offense has to continue to hit good pitches like we’ve been doing and getting production one through nine like we have this wek.”

Hillcrest holds a 18-15 advantage in the series since 2009, defeating their division rivals 2-0 on June 17.

The Area Game of the Week Pregame Show will begin at 6:30 p.m. with first pitch scheduled for 7 live from Fairfield on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 app and streaming on kciiradio.com.