Baseball Game Preview: Spanish River Sharks vs. Cardinal Newman Crusaders

The Spanish River Sharks will head out to face off against the Cardinal Newman Crusaders at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.

Spanish River fought the good fight in their extra-innings matchup against St. John Paul II Academy on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Eagles by a score of 5-4. The Sharks' loss signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.

Spanish River saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jason Rothberg, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Newman won against St. John Paul II Academy on Tuesday with four runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Friday. The Crusaders came out on top in a nail-biter against Seminole Ridge, sneaking past 4-2. The victory continues a trend for the Crusaders in their matchups with the Hawks: they've now won four in a row.

Max Gonzalez spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned runs on two hits and racked up eight Ks.

On the hitting side, Gabriel Acevedo was incredible, going a perfect 3-for-3 with one home run, two runs, and one stolen base.

Cardinal Newman's win was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 19-2-1. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of 2.71 runs across that stretch. As for Spanish River, their defeat dropped their record down to 13-10.

Spanish River came up short against Cardinal Newman when the teams last played back in February of 2021, falling 11-6. Can the Sharks avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.