Baseball Game Preview: Hoover Vikings vs. Hudson Explorers

Hoover has gone a perfect 3-0 against Hudson recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Saturday. The Vikings will be playing in front of their home fans against the Explorers at 3:00 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Hoover 2.2, Hudson 2.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Hoover's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They came out on top against McKinley by a score of 4-0. The Vikings haven't had any issues with the Bulldogs recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive victory against them.

Not much got past Evan Fuller, who gave up just a hit and racked up 17 Ks to keep McKinley off the board. Those 17 strikeouts set a new season-high mark for Fuller.

Ryan Cervenak

Hits (Career)

04/17/25 vs McKinley	2
04/16/25 @ McKinley	1
04/12/25 @ Dublin Coffman	1
04/12/25 @ Olentangy Liberty	1
04/09/25 vs GlenOak	1

On the hitting side, Ryan Cervenak was excellent, going 2-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base. Those two hits gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Matt Brown, who went 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Hudson came tearing into Thursday's game with four straight wins , and they left with even more momentum. They had just enough and edged out the Comets 7-5. While the Explorers didn't have the best season last year (they finished 11-15), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Hoover pushed their record up to 7-4 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.0 run on average over those games. As for Hudson, their win bumped their record up to 9-1.

Hoover came out on top in a nail-biter against Hudson in their previous meeting back in May of 2023, sneaking past 6-4. Do the Vikings have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Explorers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.