Baseball Game Preview: Brother Rice Crusaders vs. St. Laurence Vikings

The Brother Rice Crusaders will challenge the St. Laurence Vikings at 5:15 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

St. Laurence will be up against a hot Brother Rice squad: the team just extended their winning streak to four. Everything went the Crusaders' way against Marist on Monday as they made off with a 9-2 victory.

Tadgh Callaghan looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run over four innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in nine consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Jackson Natanek was excellent, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with three RBI, one run, and one double. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in April. Another player making a difference was Brady Cunningham, who went 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI.

Brother Rice kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 14 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in four consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for St. Laurence, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Saturday. They blew past Fenwick 17-2 on Wednesday. The win continues a trend for the Vikings in their matchups with the Friars: they've now won seven in a row.

Brother Rice's victory bumped their record up to 30-2. As for St. Laurence, their win bumped their record up to 27-5.

Brother Rice beat St. Laurence 6-2 in their previous matchup on Saturday. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Crusaders since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.