Baseball Game Preview: St. Joseph-by-the-Sea Vikings vs. Archbishop Stepinac Crusaders

The St. Joseph-by-the-Sea Vikings will take on the Archbishop Stepinac Crusaders at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (St. Joseph-by-the-Sea 1.8, Archbishop Stepinac 4) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Archbishop Stepinac will be up against a hot St. Joseph-by-the-Sea squad: the team just extended their winning streak to four. The Vikings never let All Hallows get on the board and left with a 5-0 win on Monday.

The result came thanks to Anthony Abruzese's shutout, as he gave up just two hits.

On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Anthony DePetro, who scored a run and stole a base while going 3-for-4. That stolen base marked the first that he snagged this season. Another player making a difference was Michael Marchese, who scored a run and stole two bases while going 2-for-3.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Archbishop Stepinac, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Wednesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Salesian 6-4. The win continues a trend for the Crusaders in their matchups with the Eagles: they've now won eight in a row.

Archbishop Stepinac's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-3. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.7 runs on average over those games. As for St. Joseph-by-the-Sea, their victory bumped their record up to 7-1.

St. Joseph-by-the-Sea came out on top in a nail-biter against Archbishop Stepinac in their previous matchup back in March of 2023, sneaking past 4-3. Will the Vikings repeat their success, or do the Crusaders have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.