Baseball Game Preview: Holy Cross Crusaders vs. Riverside Vikings

Holy Cross is 2-8 against Riverside since April of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Crusaders will take on the Vikings at 4:30 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Holy Cross barely beat Lakeland the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Crusaders' pitcher stepped up to hand the Chiefs a 10-0 shutout on Wednesday. The result was nothing new for the Crusaders, who have now won three matchups by eight runs or more so far this season.

Tyler Musso

Runs Batted In (Career)

04/02/25 vs Lakeland	4
03/29/25 @ Berwick	3
05/01/24 vs Western Wayne	3
03/17/25 vs Greater Nanticoke Area	2
03/24/24 @ Berwick	2

Tyler Musso made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only two hits over five innings pitched. He has become a key player for Holy Cross: the team is undefeated when he allows at most two hits, but 1-2 otherwise. Musso was also big at the plate, going a perfect 2-for-2 with four RBI. Those four RBI gave him a new career-high.

In other batting news, Josh Lentowski was excellent, scoring three runs and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. Freddy Ceccacci also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.

Holy Cross was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .444. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .348 or higher in three consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Riverside got the win against Western Wayne on Wednesday by a conclusive 12-2. The contest marked the Vikings' most dominant victory of the season so far.

Holy Cross' win was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-2. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.8 runs over those games. As for Riverside, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 3-1.

Holy Cross suffered a grim 18-2 defeat to Riverside when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Can the Crusaders avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.