Baseball Game Preview: Grants Pirates vs. St. Pius X Sartans

The Grants Pirates are taking a road trip to square off against the St. Pius X Sartans at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Grants' pitching crew has only allowed four runs per game this season, so St. Pius X's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Grants is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They skirted past Santa Teresa 7-6.

Meanwhile, St. Pius X entered their tilt with Kirtland Central on Saturday with six consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with seven. They blew past the Broncos 8-1.

Jacob Madrid made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, tossing 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances. He was also stellar in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, three RBI, and one double. Those two stolen bases gave him a new career-high.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Kaiden Swanson, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one double. Michael Deller was another key player, going 2-for-4 with two doubles, one run, and one RBI.

St. Pius X pushed their record up to 17-11 with the victory, which was their ninth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.8 runs over those games. As for Grants, their record is now 18-9.