Baseball Game Preview: Unity Christian Crusaders vs. Hudsonville Eagles

The Unity Christian Crusaders will challenge the Hudsonville Eagles at 4:15 p.m. on Friday. Unity Christian will be looking to extend their current seven-game winning streak.

On Thursday, Unity Christian got the win against Holland by a conclusive 8-1. The Crusaders might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four contests by seven runs or more this season.

Meanwhile, Hudsonville faced Grandville in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Eagles fell 5-1 to the Bulldogs.

Coleton VanderPloeg was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out 11 over 5.1 innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Hudsonville is 3-1 when he allows at most two earned runs, but 2-3-1 otherwise.

On the hitting side, Hudsonville saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ty Ladd, who went 1-for-3 with one run.

Hudsonville has also traveled a rocky road recently, having lost three of their last four games. That's put a noticeable dent in their 5-4-1 record this season. As for Unity Christian, their win bumped their record up to 8-2.