Baseball Game Preview: Tarboro Vikings vs. Martin County Gators

The Tarboro Vikings will venture away from home to challenge the Martin County Gators at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Tarboro is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.9 runs per game this season.

Tarboro's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They put the hurt on North East Carolina Prep with a sharp 7-0 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Vikings.

Cole Craddock

Runs

03/04/25 vs Rocky Mount	4
04/08/25 @ North East Carolina Prep	3
03/11/25 vs Louisburg	3
04/08/25 vs North East Carolina Prep	2
04/01/25 @ Perquimans	2
+ 5 more games

Cole Craddock made a big impact no matter where he played. On the mound, he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than eight strikeouts in four consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs. He is becoming a predictor of Tarboro's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 7-1 (and 3-4 when he doesn't).

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Stephen Ribustello, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. He has become a key player for Tarboro: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 3-5 otherwise.

Meanwhile, Martin County started off well but failed to capitalize on an early lead against Perquimans. They fell just short of the Pirates by a score of 5-3 on Thursday. The Gators haven't had much luck with the Pirates recently, as the team has come up short the last four times they've met.

Tarboro pushed their record up to 10-5 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.3 runs over those games. As for Martin County, their loss dropped their record down to 15-3.