Baseball Game Preview: Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings vs. Lake Catholic Cougars

The Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings will hit the road for the first time this season to take on the Lake Catholic Cougars at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Villa Angela-St. Joseph is headed out to face Lake Catholic after opening their season at home and giving their fans just what they were looking for. The Vikings' pitchers stepped up to hand Maple Heights a 12-0 shutout on Wednesday.

John Vuraich was excellent, scoring three runs and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. Max Gembus was another key player, scoring a run while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.

Villa Angela-St. Joseph always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .645. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Maple Heights only posted an OBP of .176.

Meanwhile, Lake Catholic sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 4-3 win over Brush on Friday. The Cougars haven't had any issues with the Arcs recently, as the game was their third consecutive victory against them.

Frankie Trinetti looked comfortable as he tossed 2.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit.

At the plate, Lake Catholic's win was truly a team effort as six different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Caden Boyes, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base and one RBI.

Villa Angela-St. Joseph might still be hurting after the 9-0 defeat they got from Lake Catholic when the teams last played back in May of 2021. Can the Vikings avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.