Baseball Game Preview: Ripley Vikings vs. Chapmanville Regional Tigers

The Ripley Vikings will square off against the Chapmanville Regional Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Ripley has four straight victories, Chapmanville Regional has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Ripley's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Saturday. Everything went their way against Nitro as they made off with a 9-0 win. The result was nothing new for the Vikings, who have now won eight contests by six runs or more so far this season.

Parker Keller

Batters Struck Out

04/19/25 @ Nitro	5
04/16/25 @ Sissonville	1
04/08/25 @ George Washington	2
03/29/25 vs Nicholas County	2
03/21/25 @ Winfield	5

Parker Keller made a splash while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run over five innings pitched. What's more, he posted five strikeouts, the most he's had since back in March. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-4 with three RBI and one run.

In other batting news, Brady McVay was a standout: he went a perfect 4-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI. Those four hits gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Landon Meadows, who went 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI.

Ripley hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least four batters in four consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, Chapmanville Regional fought the good fight in their extra-innings game against Buffalo on Wednesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 12-9 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Bison. That's two games in a row now that the Tigers have lost by exactly three runs.

Ripley's victory bumped their record up to 11-3. As for Chapmanville Regional, their loss dropped their record down to 4-7.

Ripley skirted past Chapmanville Regional 2-1 in their previous meeting back in April of 2017. Will the Vikings repeat their success, or do the Tigers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.