Baseball Game Preview: Rowan County Vikings vs. East Carter Raiders

The Rowan County Vikings will venture away from home to face off against the East Carter Raiders at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Rowan County is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.7 runs per game this season.

Rowan County's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They walked away with a 4-0 win over Bath County. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Vikings.

Not much got past Grant Rose, who gave up just three hits and racked up eight Ks to keep Bath County off the board.

Will Richardson

Runs

04/14/25 @ Bath County	3
04/08/25 vs Lewis County	3
03/27/25 @ Nicholas County	3
03/19/25 @ Lewis County	3
03/18/25 vs Menifee County	3
+ 6 more games

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Will Richardson, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-3. Rowan County is undefeated when Richardson posts two or more runs, but 3-6 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Jayson Ingles, who scored a run and stole two bases.

Meanwhile, East Carter waltzed into their matchup on Tuesday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They were the clear victors by a 12-3 margin over the Cougars. The result was nothing new for the Raiders, who have now won ten contests by seven runs or more so far this season.

Rowan County pushed their record up to 12-6 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.1 runs over those games. As for East Carter, their victory bumped their record up to 11-4.

Rowan County couldn't quite finish off East Carter in their previous meeting back in May of 2024 and fell 7-5. Can the Vikings avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.