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

The St. Pius X Sartans will head out to square off against the Grants Pirates at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

St. Pius X can't be too worried about heading out to take on Grants: they just beat Belen at home, who had been dominant on their own field up to that point. The Sartans put the hurt on the Eagles with a sharp 9-2 win on Thursday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Sartans.

Jacob Madrid made a splash no matter where he played. He struck out seven batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits. Madrid was also big at the plate, going 3-for-5 with one home run, two RBI, and one double. He is becoming a predictor of St. Pius X's success: when he posts at least one home run the team is undefeated (and 9-11 when he doesn't).

In other pitching news, Hunter Jiron looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive appearances.

Joaquin Aragon

Hits (Career)

04/17/25 @ Belen	3
04/08/25 @ Valencia	2
03/29/25 vs Albuquerque Academy	2
03/15/25 vs Volcano Vista	2
03/24/25 @ Rio Grande	1

Back at the plate, Joaquin Aragon was incredible, firing off two home runs and five RBI while going 3-for-4. Those three hits gave him a new career-high. Diego Trujillo was another key player, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with one run.

St. Pius X lost a few balls and finished the game with three home runs. That's the most home runs they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, Grants had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They walked away with a 5-2 victory over the Jaguars.

Grants pushed their record up to 13-5 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for St. Pius X, they now have a winning record of 12-11.

St. Pius X came out on top in a nail-biter against Grants in their previous meeting two weeks ago, sneaking past 3-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Sartans since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.