Baseball Game Preview: Hermantown Hawks vs. North Branch Vikings

The Hermantown Hawks will head out on the road to square off against the North Branch Vikings at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Hermantown will be strutting in after a win while North Branch will be coming in after a loss.

Hermantown is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They came out on top against Superior by a score of 13-10 on Monday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Hawks.

Zach Bostrum was a major factor no matter where he played. He pitched 2.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. He also tossed no walks, which is notable because Hermantown is 2-1 when he allows at most two walks, but 4-6-1 otherwise. Bostrum was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in four of his five plate appearances with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI. Those two runs gave him a new career-high.

Charlie Marchand

Runs (Career)

05/12/25 @ Superior	3
05/06/25 @ Esko	2
04/29/25 vs Duluth East	2
04/25/25 vs Rock Ridge co-op [Eveleth-Gilbert/Virginia]	2
05/09/25 @ Hibbing	1

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Charlie Marchand, who went 4-for-5 with two stolen bases, three runs, and one triple. Those three runs gave him a new career-high. Ethan McCubbin also deserves some recognition as he hit his first triple of the season.

Hermantown always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .523. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Cambridge-Isanti hit North Branch with a eight-run fifth inning on Tuesday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Vikings lost 11-0 to the Bluejackets. The defeat continues a trend for the Vikings in their meetings with the Bluejackets: they've now lost four in a row.

Hermantown's record is now 6-7-1. As for North Branch, their loss dropped their record down to 3-13.

Hermantown was able to grind out a solid victory over North Branch when the teams last played back in May of 2024, winning 4-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Hawks since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.