Baseball Preview: Calvin Christian Crusaders vs. Rock Academy Warriors
Calvin Christian is 8-2 against Rock Academy since May of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Calvin Christian Crusaders will be playing in front of their home fans against the Rock Academy Warriors at 3:30 p.m. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Calvin Christian sitting on four straight wins and Rock Academy on five.
Calvin Christian stacked a ninth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. Everything went their way against St. Joseph Academy as Calvin Christian made off with a 16-2 victory.
Caleb Lapka was a standout: he went 2-for-2 with a triple, a stolen base, and two RBI. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played. Quentin Verhoeven was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing three bases while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Rock Academy has not done well against Orange Glen recently (they were 1-7 in their previous eight matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. Rock Academy had just enough and edged Orange Glen out 7-6.
Diego Munoz made a splash while hitting and pitching. He didn't allow a single earned run while striking out seven over 5.1 innings pitched. Munoz was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with a stolen base and an RBI.
In other batting news, Jack Villanueva and Alec Endicott did most of the damage at the plate: Villanueva scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3, while Endicott scored a run and stole two bases while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Logan Saathoff, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Calvin Christian pushed their record up to 13-2 with that win, which was their seventh straight on the road. As for Rock Academy, they now have a winning record of 8-7.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Calvin Christian has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Rock Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Calvin Christian came out on top in a nail-biter against Rock Academy when the teams last played back in May of 2023, sneaking past 6-5. Will Calvin Christian repeat their success, or does Rock Academy have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
