Baseball Game Preview: Holy Cross Crusaders vs. Holy Redeemer Royals

The Holy Cross Crusaders will head out on the road to square off against the Holy Redeemer Royals at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Holy Cross came up short against Honesdale and fell 6-3. The Crusaders have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Meanwhile, Holy Redeemer had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.5 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They had just enough and edged out the Hawkeyes 8-6. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Royals have posted against the Hawkeyes since May 19, 2022.

Zachary Schultz made a splash while hitting and pitching. He tossed 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. He has been consistent for a while: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in ten consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.

In other batting news, Holy Redeemer got a big performance out of Noah Hummel, who went 2-for-4 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one double. That's the most RBI Hummel has posted since back in March. Kayden Stevenson was another key player, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs and two RBI.

Holy Redeemer pushed their record up to 14-2 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.3 runs over those games. As for Holy Cross, their loss dropped their record down to 6-12.

Holy Cross came up short against Holy Redeemer when the teams last played back in April of 2024, falling 11-7. Can the Crusaders avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.