Baseball Game Preview: Royal Highlanders vs. Santa Monica Vikings

The Royal Highlanders will venture away from home to face off against the Santa Monica Vikings at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Royal is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last 11 games.

If Royal beats Santa Monica with two runs on Friday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. Royal never let Rio Mesa get on the board and left with a 2-0 win on Thursday.

The result came thanks to Dean Barkman's shutout, as he gave up just three hits and racked up six Ks. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Royal's victory was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Colten Rainer, who went 1-for-2 with one double and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Santa Monica came tearing into Thursday's game with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13.8 runs), and they left with even more momentum. They blew past the Monarchs 19-0. Considering the Vikings have won six matches by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.

Royal pushed their record up to 11-1 with the win, which was their seventh straight at home. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.6 runs over those games. As for Santa Monica, their win bumped their record up to 10-4.

Royal skirted past Santa Monica 6-5 in their previous meeting back in February of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Royal since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.