The St. Joseph-by-the-Sea Vikings will challenge the St. Peter's Eagles at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (St. Joseph-by-the-Sea 1.5, St. Peter's 1.9) so any runs scored will be well earned.
While St. Joseph-by-the-Sea's win against Archbishop Stepinac wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Vikings' pitcher stepped up to hand the Crusaders a 1-0 shutout on Thursday. The victory continues a trend for the Vikings in their matchups with the Crusaders: they've now won three in a row.
The result came thanks to John Gano's shutout, as he gave up just three hits and racked up seven Ks. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive appearances.
At the plate, St. Joseph-by-the-Sea saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Randy Rivera, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base.
Meanwhile, St. Peter's had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.5 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They came out on top against the Lions by a score of 6-1.
Joe Bello spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on four hits.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Eddie Rethorn, who went 1-for-2 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI. Another player making a difference was Marco Aruta, who earned one RBI, one run, and two stolen bases.
St. Peter's pushed their record up to 18-6 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.4 runs over those games. As for St. Joseph-by-the-Sea, their win bumped their record up to 22-3.
St. Joseph-by-the-Sea took their victory against St. Peter's in their previous matchup two weeks ago by a conclusive 8-0 score. Will the Vikings repeat their success, or do the Eagles have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
