Baseball Game Preview: Kodiak Bears vs. Houston Hawks

Kodiak has gone 8-2 against Houston recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Bears are taking a road trip to square off against the Hawks at 12:00 p.m. Kodiak will be strutting in after a victory while Houston will be coming in after a defeat.

Kodiak is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Alaska's top teams: Grace Christian, who was ranked 25th at the time (Kodiak was ranked 18th). The Bears came out on top against the Grizzlies by a score of 7-4 on Saturday.

Max Sanford made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over seven innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off four hits. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in May of 2025. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in all three of his plate appearances with one RBI.

Cole Barkemeyer

Stolen Base

05/23/26 vs Grace Christian	2
05/22/26 vs Grace Christian	2
05/15/26 vs Homer	2
04/15/26 vs Colony	2
04/18/26 vs Sitka	1

In other batting news, Kodiak let Jake Sanford and Cole Barkemeyer run wild. Sanford went 2-for-3 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run, while Barkemeyer went 1-for-2 with two stolen bases, one triple, and one run. Kodiak is 3-1 when Barkemeyer posts two or more stolen bases, but 2-6-1 otherwise. Jeremy Mahle was another key player, getting on base in two of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs.

Meanwhile, Houston came up short against Homer on Thursday, falling 9-1.

Houston's loss dropped their record down to 8-8-1. As for Kodiak, their record now sits at 5-7-1.

Kodiak suffered a grim 7-1 defeat to Houston in their previous meeting on May 2nd. Can the Bears avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.