Baseball Game Preview: Empire Ravens vs. Sahuarita Mustangs

Empire hasn't had much luck against Sahuarita recently, but that could start to change on Wednesday. The Empire Ravens will face off against the Sahuarita Mustangs at 4:00 p.m. Empire is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.2 runs per game this season.

Empire fought the good fight in their extra-innings contest against Tombstone on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 6-3 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Yellow Jackets. The Ravens have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Evan Walker was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: he pitched five innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off seven hits. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one walk in three consecutive appearances.

Zackary Breinlinger

Stolen Base (Career)

03/18/25 vs Tombstone	2
03/04/25 vs Coolidge	1
04/22/24 vs Amphitheater	1
03/28/24 @ Safford	1
03/25/24 vs Palo Verde	1

At the plate, Zackary Breinlinger was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring a run and stealing Two bases. while going 2-for-4. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in stolen bases.

Meanwhile, after only two runs in their last matchup, Sahuarita made sure to put some runs up on the board against Mountain View on Friday. Everything went Sahuarita's way against Mountain View as Sahuarita made off with a 19-7 victory. Considering the Mustangs have won four games by more than eight runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Sahuarita is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 7-1-1 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.8 runs on average over those games. Empire's defeat dropped their record down to 4-7.

Empire came up short against Sahuarita in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, falling 4-0. Can Empire avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.