Baseball Game Preview: Polk County Wolverines vs. Christ the King Crusaders

The Polk County Wolverines will challenge the Christ the King Crusaders on Friday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.

Polk County is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 6-4 win over Starmount.

Gunnar Alm

Runs

04/30/25 @ Rosman	5
05/06/25 vs Starmount	3
04/21/25 vs Chase	3
04/12/25 vs Brevard	3
03/20/25 @ East Henderson	3
+ 14 more games

Gunnar Alm was excellent, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three runs and one stolen base. He has become a key player for Polk County: the team is 9-4 when he posts at least two runs, but 3-9 otherwise. Mark Jarrett was another key player, going 1-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Christ the King had already won three in a row and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. They beat the Villains by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 5-3.

Colin Ryan tossed a big game, striking out seven batters over six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits. Those seven strikeouts gave him a new career-high.

On the hitting side, Christ the King got a big performance out of Troy Alderfer, who went 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI. Alderfer is on a roll when it comes to home runs, as he's now launched at least one in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jimmy Tamuccio, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one double.

Christ the King's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-7. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of 2.5 runs across that stretch. As for Polk County, their win bumped their record up to 12-13.