Baseball Game Preview: Hillcrest Trojans vs. St. Anthony Saints

The Hillcrest Trojans will face off against the St. Anthony Saints at 3:15 p.m. on Friday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.

Hillcrest is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Kennedy 3-1. That's two games straight that the Trojans have won by exactly two runs.

Meanwhile, St. Anthony had already won nine in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.1 runs) and they went ahead and made it ten on Tuesday. They came within a single run of losing the streak, but they secured a 4-3 W against the Spartans.

Benny Lane made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out six over six innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-5 with one home run.

In other batting news, John Arnold was excellent, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with two stolen bases.

Hillcrest is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 18-8-1 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games. As for St. Anthony, their victory bumped their record up to 19-8.