Baseball Game Preview: Ballard Beavers vs. Kennedy Catholic Lancers

The Ballard Beavers will face off against the Kennedy Catholic Lancers at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Ballard 2.3, Kennedy Catholic 3.3) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Thursday just wasn't the day for Ballard's offense. They fell just short of Chief Sealth by a score of 2-0 on Thursday. Surprisingly, this marked the Beavers' fifth straight game in which the away team has come away the victor.

Ballard saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Danny DiMarco, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base.

Meanwhile, Kennedy Catholic had already won two in a row and they went ahead and made it three on Wednesday. They walked away with a 5-2 victory over the Rams.

Harvey Lieberman spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on five hits and racked up seven Ks. He has been consistent: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in eight consecutive appearances.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Dante Saladino, who went 2-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI. Elliot Kelley-Petersen was another key player, going 1-for-2 with two RBI.

Kennedy Catholic's win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 12-6. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.5 runs on average over those games. As for Ballard, their loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 14-6.

The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Ballard has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Kennedy Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 7.9 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.