Baseball Game Preview: Nichols Vikings vs. St. Francis Red Raiders

For the second straight game, Nichols will face off against St. Francis. The Vikings will head out on the road to challenge the Red Raiders at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Nichols has five straight victories, St. Francis has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Nichols' pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They put the hurt on St. Francis with a sharp 11-0 win. The result was nothing new for the Vikings, who have now won five matchups by seven runs or more so far this season.

Ross Yoshida made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out ten over five innings pitched. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up a single earned run in four consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

Dominic Bernardone

Stolen Base (Career)

04/23/25 vs St. Francis	3
04/17/25 @ Kenmore West	1
04/14/25 vs Jamestown	1
04/11/25 @ Medina	1
05/10/24 vs Bishop Timon-St. Jude	1

In other batting news, Nichols got a big performance out of Dominic Bernardone, who went 1-for-2 with three stolen bases and three runs. Those three stolen bases gave Bernardone a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Kasey Kohler, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI and one stolen base.

Nichols always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .613. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Nichols' victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-2. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for St. Francis, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-7-1.