Baseball Game Preview: St. Laurence Vikings vs. Brother Rice Crusaders

The St. Laurence Vikings will be taking part in a tournament against the Brother Rice Crusaders at 5:15 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

St. Laurence will roll into the game after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up two runs on Saturday, then bounced right back against Fenwick on Wednesday. The Vikings blew past the Friars 17-2. The victory continues a trend for the Vikings in their matchups with the Friars: they've now won seven in a row.

Meanwhile, Brother Rice had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Monday. They put the hurt on the RedHawks with a sharp 9-2 win.

Tadgh Callaghan looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run over four innings pitched. He has been consistent for a while: he hasn't given up more than two walks in nine consecutive appearances.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jackson Natanek, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with three RBI, one run, and one double. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in April. Another player making a difference was Brady Cunningham, who went 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI.

Brother Rice was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .438. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .320 or higher in four consecutive matches.

St. Laurence's record now sits at 27-5. As for Brother Rice, their record is now 30-2.

St. Laurence couldn't quite get it done against Brother Rice in their previous matchup on Saturday as they fell 6-2. Can the Vikings avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.