Baseball Game Preview: Athens Hornets vs. Van Vandals

The Athens Hornets will venture away from home to challenge the Van Vandals at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Athens has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while Van will arrive with six straight wins.

On Saturday, Athens came up short against Troup and fell 6-2.

Meanwhile, while Van put up some runs on Friday, the same can't be said for Brownsboro. Van was the clear victor by a 10-0 margin over Brownsboro. Considering the Vandals have won 11 matchups by more than five runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Grady Baetz made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out 12 over five innings pitched. What's more, he gave up only zero earned runs, the fewest he's had since March 1st. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Connor Mccurley, who went 1-for-3 with three runs, one triple, and two RBI. Those three runs gave him a new career-high. Rawly Hinch was another key player, scoring a run while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.

Van pushed their record up to 19-6-1 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.0 runs over those games. As for Athens, their loss dropped their record down to 4-11.

Athens might still be hurting after the 11-1 defeat they got from Van when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Can Athens avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.