The St. John Bosco Braves will square off against the Villa Park Spartans at 3:15 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as St. John Bosco comes in on 13 and Villa Park on three.
St. John Bosco is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They had just enough and edged out Vista Murrieta 5-4. That's two games straight that the Braves have won by just one run.
St. John Bosco got a great performance from Brayden Krakowski as he pitched 4.1 innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits. Krakowski has been consistent for a while: he hasn't given up more than two walks any time he's pitched this season.
At the plate, St. John Bosco let Noah Everly and Miles Clark run wild. Everly went a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI and one double, while Clark went 1-for-3 with one home run. James Clark was another key player, going 2-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Villa Park and Aquinas (ranked 77th and tenth in the MaxPreps national rankings respectively) squared off in a high-profile match on Tuesday. The Spartans were the clear victors by an 8-2 margin over the Falcons. Eight seems to be a good number for the Spartans as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Jake Nobles was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing five innings while giving up just two earned runs off nine hits. What's more, he posted five strikeouts, the most he's had since back in March. He was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with one run and one RBI.
In other pitching news, Logan Hoppie looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. What's more, he posted four strikeouts, the most he's had since back in April.
Back at the plate, Val Lopez was excellent, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run. Another player making a difference was Shawn Romero, who went 2-for-3 with one run.
St. John Bosco's victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 24-4. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.1 runs on average over those games. As for Villa Park, their victory bumped their record up to 24-6.
