Baseball Game Preview: Varela Vipers vs. Hialeah Thoroughbreds

The Varela Vipers will challenge the Hialeah Thoroughbreds at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Varela will be strutting in after a win while Hialeah will be coming in after a defeat.

Varela barely beat South Dade the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Vipers never let the Buccaneers get on the board and left with a 7-0 victory on Thursday. The Vipers not only won on Thursday, but they posted their biggest win since March 5th.

Varela got a great performance from Andy Espinoza as he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out nine over six innings pitched. Espinoza has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in six consecutive appearances.

Jonathan Paniagua

Runs Batted In (Career)

04/10/25 @ South Dade	3
04/01/25 vs JC Bermudez Doral	2
03/05/25 @ Westminster Christian	2
02/28/25 @ Hialeah Gardens	2
04/01/24 vs Coral Park	2

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jonathan Paniagua, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI and one triple. Those three RBI gave him a new career-high. Jiovanni Zara was another key player, scoring a run while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances.

Meanwhile, Hialeah fell victim to Coral Gables and their airtight pitching crew on Thursday. They lost 10-0 to the Cavaliers. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last four times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.

Hialeah saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Devin Gil, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base.

Varela is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-6-2 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.4 runs on average over those games. As for Hialeah, their loss dropped their record down to 6-10.

Varela was able to grind out a solid victory over Hialeah when the teams last played back in April of 2023, winning 6-1. Do the Vipers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Thoroughbreds turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.