The Nichols Vikings will venture away from home to challenge the St. Mary's Lancers at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Nichols will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak.
Nichols can't be too worried about heading out to take on St. Mary's: they just beat Maryvale at home, who had been dominant on their own field up to that point. The Vikings came out on top against the Flyers by a score of 5-1 on Thursday. That's two games straight that the Vikings have won by exactly four runs.
Trenton Ruffolo
| 05/15/25 @ Maryvale | 4 |
| 05/09/25 vs Depew | 3 |
| 04/07/25 @ Gowanda | 3 |
| 05/08/25 vs St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute | 1 |
| 04/17/25 vs Akron | 1 |
The team relied heavily on Trenton Ruffolo, who went 2-for-3 with four stolen bases and one run. Those four stolen bases gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Derek McIntyre, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one stolen base and one run.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's suffered their closest defeat since April 23rd on Thursday. They fell just short of Orchard Park by a score of 5-3. The Lancers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Luke Higgins was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he tossed five innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off five hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks any time he's pitched this season.
On the hitting side, St. Mary's saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Willaim Szablewski, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one stolen base, one run, and one double. Logan Gray was another, going 1-for-2 with one stolen base and one run.
Nichols pushed their record up to 12-4 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 1.0 run on average over those games. As for St. Mary's, their loss dropped their record down to 6-10.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Nichols has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like St. Mary's struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Nichols was able to grind out a solid victory over St. Mary's in their previous meeting on Tuesday, winning 8-4. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Vikings since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
