Baseball Game Preview: Ballard Beavers vs. Eastside Catholic Crusaders

The Ballard Beavers will head out to square off against the Eastside Catholic Crusaders at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Neither of those teams managed to put together many runs in their previous contests, so the offenses might be a little more motivated than usual.

Wednesday just wasn't the day for Ballard's offense. They took a 5-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of Seattle Prep on Wednesday. The contest marked the first time this year in which the Beavers were not able to get on the board.

Ballard saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Finn Kelly, who went 1-for-3 with one double.

Meanwhile, Eastside Catholic fought the good fight in their extra-innings game against Roosevelt on Thursday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Roughriders by a score of 3-2. The Crusaders have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Tristan Weigum was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he struck out eight batters over 5.2 innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits.

Eastside Catholic's defeat dropped their record down to 9-12. As for Ballard, their loss dropped their record down to 10-10.

Ballard's speedy runners might be the difference in Saturday's matchup. The Beavers have been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.6 stolen bases per game. It's a different story for Eastside Catholic, though, as they've been averaging only 1.3 stolen bases. Will they be able to secure the bases, or will Ballard continue to outrun the ball?

Ballard suffered a grim 8-2 defeat to Eastside Catholic when the teams last played two weeks ago. Can the Beavers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.