Baseball Game Preview: Christ the King Crusaders vs. Polk County Wolverines

The Christ the King Crusaders will face off against the Polk County Wolverines on Friday. Christ the King is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last four games.

Christ the King is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They beat Bishop McGuinness by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 5-3.

Colin Ryan

Batters Struck Out (Career)

05/06/25 vs Bishop McGuinness	7
04/28/25 @ Langtree Charter Academy	4
04/14/25 vs Charlotte Country Day School	4
04/03/25 @ Mount Pleasant	3
03/07/25 @ Pine Lake Prep	3

Christ the King got a great performance from Colin Ryan as he struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits. Those seven strikeouts gave Ryan a new career-high.

At the plate, Troy Alderfer was a standout: he went 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one home run the last three times he's played. Jimmy Tamuccio also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.

Meanwhile, Polk County narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Starmount 6-4.

Gunnar Alm was excellent, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three runs and one stolen base. Polk County is 9-4 when Alm posts two or more runs, but 3-9 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Mark Jarrett, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

Christ the King's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-7. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Polk County, their record now sits at 12-13.