Baseball Game Preview: Hoover Vikings vs. Normandy Invaders

The Hoover Vikings will square off against the Normandy Invaders at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Neither Hoover nor Normandy posted many runs in their last games, so it might be the pitching crews that decide this one.

Hoover is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Ohio's top teams: Jackson, who was ranked 25th at the time (Hoover was ranked ninth). The Vikings fell just short of the Polar Bears by a score of 3-1 on Wednesday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest loss the Vikings have suffered since March 29th.

Hoover got a good showing from Evan Fuller, who pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit.

On the hitting side, Hoover saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jack Ziarko, who went 1-for-2 with one run. That run was Ziarko's first of the season.

Meanwhile, Normandy came up short against Westlake on Wednesday and fell 6-1. The defeat continues a trend for the Invaders in their meetings with the Demons: they've now lost three in a row.

This is the second loss in a row for Hoover and nudges their season record down to 8-6. As for Normandy, their loss dropped their record down to 3-8.

Hoover's speedy runners might be the difference in Saturday's matchup. The Vikings have been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.2 stolen bases per game. It's a different story for Normandy, though, as they've been averaging only 1.2 stolen bases. Will they be able to secure the bases, or will Hoover continue to outrun the ball? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other baseball content.