The Eastern Vikings will head out to square off against the Rancocas Valley Red Devils at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday.
Eastern is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Jersey's top teams: Bishop Eustace Prep, who was ranked fifth at the time (Eastern was ranked 21st). The Vikings lost 12-5 to the Crusaders on Tuesday. The Vikings haven't had much luck with the Crusaders recently, as the team has come up short the last three times they've met.
Rancocas Valley never got on the board in their matchup on Tuesday, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against Schalick on Wednesday. They blew past the Cougars 10-2. The result was nothing new for the Red Devils, who have now won six contests by six runs or more so far this season.
Eddie Ruminski made a splash while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, keeping things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out six over four innings pitched. That's the most strikeouts he has posted since back in March of 2025. He was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with two runs, one double, and one RBI.
In other batting news, Rancocas Valley got a big performance out of Jaylen Alvarez, who went 2-for-5 with one home run. Another player making a difference was Aiden Gaskill, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBI.
Rancocas Valley's record now sits at 12-5-1. As for Eastern, their loss dropped their record down to 8-5-1.
Eastern got the 'W' when the teams last played on April 3rd against Rancocas Valley by a conclusive 13-3 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Vikings since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
