Baseball Game Preview: St. Raphael Academy Saints vs. Prout Crusaders

The St. Raphael Academy Saints will head out on the road to challenge the Prout Crusaders at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The last five games St. Raphael Academy has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.

While St. Raphael Academy's win against Chariho wasn't quite the blowout it was the last time the pair played, they still came out on top. The Saints sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over the Chargers on Wednesday. Three seems to be a good number for the Saints as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.

The scorekeeper got an easy start on Wednesday as neither Prout nor Johnston made it on the board until the sixth inning. The Crusaders' pitcher stepped up to hand the Panthers a 4-0 shutout.

Gavin McCoy made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out 11 over seven innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because Prout is 3-1 when he allows at most one earned run, but 3-7 otherwise. McCoy was also solid in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, one run, and one RBI. Those three hits gave him a new career-high.

McCoy wasn't the only one making solid contact as three players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Andrew Nowell, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one run. Joe Hennings also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.

St. Raphael Academy pushed their record up to 9-4 with the victory, which was their fifth straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.2 runs on average over those games. As for Prout, their victory ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 6-8.

St. Raphael Academy couldn't quite get it done against Prout when the teams last played two weeks ago as they fell 10-6. Can the Saints avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.