Baseball Game Preview: Sumner Spartans vs. Puyallup Vikings

For the second straight game, Sumner will face off against Puyallup. The Spartans will host the Vikings at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Sumner 2.5, Puyallup 1.5) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Sumner's usually-dominant pitching crew will be looking to make up for Wednesday's struggle, when Puyallup hitters got past them. The Spartans lost 12-2 to the Vikings on Wednesday. The Spartans' loss signaled the end of their five-game winning streak.

For Puyallup's part, Mason Pike made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run over five innings pitched. Pike has been consistent : he hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 2-for-4.

In other batting news, Kyler Malnar and Gage Thompson did most of the damage at the plate: Malnar scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances, while Thompson got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. The dominant performance also gave Malnar a new career-high in RBI (three). Riley Sanoy was another key player, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.

Puyallup was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .417. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive contests.

Puyallup pushed their record up to 11-0 with the win, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.4 runs on average over those games. As for Sumner, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-3.