Baseball Game Preview: Kingwood Park Panthers vs. Santa Fe Indians

The Kingwood Park Panthers will square off against the Santa Fe Indians on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Kingwood Park 3.3, Santa Fe 3.6) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Kingwood Park is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They put the hurt on Brenham with a sharp 9-2 win. The victory was nothing new for the Panthers as they're now sitting on five straight.

Kevin Rios

Hits

05/02/25 vs Brenham	2
02/29/24 vs Clark	0
02/23/24 vs Tomball Memorial	2

Kingwood Park let Kevin Rios and Nicholas Slonaker run wild. Rios went 2-for-3 with one run and one double, while Slonaker went 1-for-2 with two RBI and one run. That's the most hits Rios has posted since back in February of 2024. Another player making a difference was Griffin Resendez, who went 1-for-4 with two runs and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe beat Port Neches-Groves 9-5 on Saturday. The win made it back-to-back victories for Santa Fe.

Jarrett Williams tossed a big game, striking out six batters over 6.1 innings while giving up just two earned (and three unearned) runs off seven hits. He has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive appearances.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jayce Richardson, who went 3-for-5 with two doubles, one stolen base, and one run. Ronald Rouse was another key player, going 2-for-3 with two runs and one RBI.

Santa Fe kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 15 hits. That's the most hits they've managed all season.

Kingwood Park's win was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 26-7-1. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for Santa Fe, their win bumped their record up to 17-11.

Kingwood Park beat Santa Fe 10-7 in their previous meeting back in March of 2023. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Indians turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.