Baseball Game Preview: Rio Vikings vs. Green Lake/Princeton Tigersharks

Rio is preparing for their first conference matchup of the season on Tuesday. They will be playing in front of their home fans against the Green Lake/Princeton Tigersharks at 5:00 p.m. Rio is coming into the matchup on a 20-game losing streak dating back to last season.

Markesan hit Rio with a six-run fourth inning on Thursday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Vikings came up short against the Hornets, falling 10-4. That's two games in a row now that the Vikings have lost by exactly six runs.

Rio saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Garrett Clark, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI.

For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Green Lake/Princeton and Pardeeville meet (seven straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Tuesday. The Tigersharks blew past the Bulldogs 10-3. The victory was some much needed relief for the Tigersharks as it spelled an end to their four-game losing streak.

Green Lake/Princeton also got a great performance from Deegan McCutcheon as he tossed 6.2 innings while giving up three earned runs off eight hits. McCutcheon also tossed two walks, which is notable because the Tigersharks are 2-1 when he allows at most two walks, but 0-3 otherwise.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Lewis Lofgren, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one run. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Grant Bartol, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with one run.

Green Lake/Princeton's win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 2-4. As for Rio, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-3.

Rio suffered a grim 21-1 defeat to Green Lake/Princeton when the teams last played back in April of 2019. Can the Vikings avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.