Baseball Game Preview: Valparaiso Vikings vs. Portage Indians

For the second straight game, Valparaiso will face off against Portage. The Vikings will be playing at home against the Indians at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Valparaiso will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each matchup than the last.

Valparaiso's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Portage with a sharp 11-0 win. The Vikings haven't had any issues with the Indians recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive victory against them.

Caden Crowell

Batters Struck Out

04/22/25 @ Portage	12
04/15/25 vs Crown Point	7
04/08/25 vs Lake Central	3
05/22/24 @ Crown Point	11
05/14/24 vs La Porte	9
+ 2 more games

Caden Crowell made a splash no matter where he played. He didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out 12 over five innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in April of 2024. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and one stolen base. Valparaiso is undefeated when Crowell posts two or more runs, but 1-4 otherwise.

In other batting news, Valparaiso got a massive performance out of Trent Gill, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, one triple, and one run. That's the most RBI Gill has posted since back in April of 2024. Grant McFarden was another key player, going 1-for-2 with two runs, one triple, and two RBI.

Valparaiso always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .611. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in four consecutive contests.

Valparaiso's win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-4 and their overall record up to 4-4. As for Portage, their loss was their first of the season and makes their record 8-1-1.