Baseball Game Preview: North Royalton Bears vs. Jackson Polar Bears

The North Royalton Bears will challenge the Jackson Polar Bears at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

North Royalton's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They came out on top against Nordonia by a score of 5-0. That five run margin sets a new team best for the Bears this season.

Not much got past Ben Baracz, who gave up just three hits to keep Nordonia off the board. Baracz has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive appearances.

Julian Tavarez

Runs

04/30/25 @ Nordonia	2
04/29/25 vs Nordonia	2
04/24/25 vs Brecksville-Broadview Heights	2
04/11/25 vs Buckeye	2
04/26/25 @ Mentor	1
+ 3 more games

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Julian Tavarez, who went 2-for-4 with two runs and one stolen base. He is becoming a predictor of North Royalton's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 3-1 (and 4-6 when he doesn't).

Meanwhile, Jackson had already won three in a row and they went ahead and made it four on Monday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 2-0 win over the Generals. Two seems to be a good number for the Polar Bears as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Jackson's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-3. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of 1.67 runs across that stretch. As for North Royalton, their victory ended a five-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 7-7.

North Royalton couldn't quite get it done against Jackson in their previous meeting back in March of 2018 as they fell 6-1. Will the Bears have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more baseball content.