Baseball Game Preview: Bellarmine College Prep Bells vs. Junipero Serra Padres

The Bellarmine College Prep Bells will head out to face off against the Junipero Serra Padres at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Bellarmine College Prep 3.1, Junipero Serra 2.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.

For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Bellarmine College Prep and Saint Francis meet (two straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Tuesday. The Bells walked away with a 4-1 victory over the Lancers.

Meanwhile, Junipero Serra had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.8 runs) and they went ahead and made it six on Tuesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Crusaders a 3-0 shutout. The Padres' pitching crew has been rock solid lately; the team hasn't given up a run in their last three contests.

The result came thanks to Kelley Crawford's shutout, as he gave up just two hits and racked up eight Ks. Those eight strikeouts set a new season-high mark for him.

At the plate, Junipero Serra's win was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Ian Josephson, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and one RBI. Josephson has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played. Tyler Harrison was another, going 2-for-3 with one double and one RBI.

Junipero Serra hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least five batters in three consecutive matches.

Junipero Serra's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 23-5. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Bellarmine College Prep, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-13 record this season.