Baseball Game Preview: Varela Vipers vs. Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks

For the second straight game, Varela will face off against Archbishop McCarthy. The Vipers will welcome the Mavericks at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Varela's pitching crew has only allowed 3.7 runs per game this season, so Archbishop McCarthy's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Varela heads in on the heels of a playoff matchup on Thursday. They fell 8-4 to Archbishop McCarthy. The Vipers' loss signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.

For Archbishop McCarthy's part, Zachary Tavarez tossed a big game, striking out six batters over five innings while giving up three earned runs off three hits. Those six strikeouts gave Tavarez a new career-high.

At the plate, Archbishop McCarthy got a massive performance out of German Ferreira, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI. That's the most stolen bases Ferreira has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was Caden Coleman, who went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one run.

Archbishop McCarthy was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .393. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .300 or higher in six consecutive contests.

Archbishop McCarthy has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games. That's provided a nice bump to their 19-12 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.3 runs over those games. As for Varela, their defeat dropped their record down to 19-8-2.

Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. Varela hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.5 home runs per game. However, it's not like Archbishop McCarthy struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 0.7 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.