Baseball Game Preview: Bishop Kenny Crusaders vs. Bolles Bulldogs

The Bishop Kenny Crusaders will face off against the Bolles Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Bishop Kenny has struggled recently with five defeats in a row, while Bolles will arrive with three straight victories.

Bishop Kenny fell victim to Episcopal School of Jacksonville and their airtight pitching crew on Tuesday. They came up short against the Eagles, falling 6-0. The matchup marked the first time this season in which the Crusaders were not able to get on the board.

Bishop Kenny got a good showing from Michael Valley, who pitched 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. The dominant performance also gave Valley a new career-high in strikeouts (two).

At the plate, Bishop Kenny saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Derek Heideman, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one stolen base. That's the most hits Heideman has posted since back in February.

Meanwhile, Bolles won against IMG Academy Gold on Thursday with six runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Tuesday. Bolles beat Mandarin by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 6-3.

Kline Cummings looked comfortable as he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit over four innings pitched. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances.

Bolles' win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 11-3. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.9 runs on average over those games. As for Bishop Kenny, their loss dropped their record down to 1-12.

Everything went Bishop Kenny's way against Bolles in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, as Bishop Kenny made off with an 11-1 victory. Does Bishop Kenny have another victory up their sleeve, or will Bolles turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.