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

For the second straight game, St. Laurence will face off against Brother Rice. The Vikings will head out on the road to challenge the Crusaders at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (St. Laurence 3.7, Brother Rice 3) so any runs scored will be well earned.

St. Laurence is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Brother Rice just ended the team's 22-game winning streak on Thursday. They came up short against the Crusaders, falling 12-2. Having soared to a lofty 11 runs in the game before, the Vikings couldn't push the score so high this time.

For Brother Rice's part, Brady Cunningham was a major factor no matter where he played. He pitched six innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits. Cunningham has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive appearances. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with one home run, three RBI, and one double. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high.

In other batting news, Brother Rice got a massive performance out of Jackson Natanek, who went 2-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. Aidan Nohava was another key player, going 1-for-3 with one home run and two RBI.

St. Laurence's defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 12-1 and their overall record down to 26-4. As for Brother Rice, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 28-2.