Baseball Game Preview: Union Catholic Vikings vs. Bayonne Bees

The Union Catholic Vikings will head out on the road to challenge the Bayonne Bees at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Union Catholic will be strutting in after a win while Bayonne will be coming in after a loss.

Union Catholic barely beat New Providence the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Vikings blew past the Pioneers 8-2 on Thursday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Vikings.

Chris Tortorella spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on six hits. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Union Catholic got a massive performance out of Chris Wilson, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases, three runs, and two doubles. That's the most runs Wilson has posted since back in April. Josiah Shapre was another key player, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with three stolen bases and three runs.

Union Catholic was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .387. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as New Providence only posted a batting average of .120.

Meanwhile, Bayonne was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They took a 7-4 hit to the loss column at the hands of Union City.

Union Catholic pushed their record up to 9-4 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.4 runs over those games. As for Bayonne, their loss dropped their record down to 5-5.