Baseball Game Preview: Hinckley-Big Rock Royals vs. North Boone Vikings

The Hinckley-Big Rock Royals are taking a road trip to challenge the North Boone Vikings at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Newark hit Hinckley-Big Rock with a four-run seventh inning on Tuesday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Royals came up short against the Norsemen, falling 10-2. Having soared to a lofty 16 runs in the game before, the Royals couldn't push the score so high this time.

Meanwhile, North Boone waltzed into their contest on Thursday with five straight wins... but they left with six. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Cardinals a 15-0 shutout. The Vikings might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 13 matchups by six runs or more this season.

North Boone's win was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-3. The home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.9 runs over those games. As for Hinckley-Big Rock, they now have a losing record of 7-8-1.

Hinckley-Big Rock suffered a grim 16-0 defeat to North Boone when the teams last played back in March of 2024. Can the Royals avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.