Baseball Game Preview: Grand Island Vikings vs. Sweet Home Panthers

The Grand Island Vikings will take on the Sweet Home Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Sweet Home took a loss in their last matchup and will be looking to turn the tables on Grand Island, who comes in off a win.

Grand Island will roll into the contest after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up two runs on Monday, then bounced right back against North Tonawanda on Wednesday. The Vikings came out on top against the Lumberjacks by a score of 12-7.

Meanwhile, Sweet Home fell victim to Amherst Central and their airtight pitching crew on Wednesday. They took a 5-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Tigers. The Panthers have struggled against the Tigers recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive lost meeting.

Sweet Home saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jacob Brand, who went 2-for-3 with one double.

Grand Island's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-2. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.7 runs on average over those games. As for Sweet Home, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-6-1.

Grand Island took their win against Sweet Home in their previous meeting back in May of 2024 by a conclusive 9-2 score. Will the Vikings repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.