Baseball Game Preview: Latta Vikings vs. Johnsonville Flashes

The Latta Vikings will venture away from home to face off against the Johnsonville Flashes at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

On Wednesday, Latta got the win against Marion by a conclusive 14-1. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Vikings.

Logan Byrd

Runs

04/04/25 @ Carvers Bay	3
04/09/25 vs Marion	2
04/01/25 vs Hemingway	2
03/28/25 vs Green Sea Floyds	2
04/03/25 vs Hannah-Pamplico	1
+ 4 more games

Latta let Logan Byrd and Seth Minshew run wild. Byrd scored two runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances, while Minshew scored three runs while going 3-for-4. Byrd has become a key player for Latta: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 5-7 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Dawson Covington, who scored a run while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.

Meanwhile, Johnsonville gave up the first runs last Tuesday, but they didn't let that get them down. Everything went their way against Hannah-Pamplico as they made off with a 12-2 victory. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest win the Flashes have posted against the Raiders since March 18, 2022.

Landyn Cribb was incredible, going a perfect 4-for-4 with one home run and two RBI. Those four hits gave him a new career-high. Gavin Marlowe was another key player, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.

Johnsonville always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .588. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .588 or higher in three consecutive games.

Johnsonville has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.7 runs over those games. As for Latta, their record is now 9-7.

Latta beat Johnsonville 5-1 when the teams last played back in March. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Vikings since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.