The St. Johns Redskins are taking a road trip to face off against the Pima Roughriders at 1:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty run totals in their previous games.
St. Johns' pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They blew past Valley 18-0. The matchup marked the Redskins' most dominant victory of the season.
Kaden Waite
| 03/21/26 vs Alchesay | 8 |
| 03/03/26 vs Pima | 7 |
| 03/17/26 @ Morenci | 3 |
| 04/15/26 vs Valley | 1 |
| 04/03/26 @ Pinon | 1 |
Kaden Waite made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. He is becoming a predictor of St. Johns' success: when he allows at most three hits the team is 3-1 (and 2-11 when he doesn't). Waite was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-5 with three RBI, two runs, and one stolen base.
In other batting news, Gabe Castillo was a standout: he went a perfect 3-for-3 with four stolen bases, two doubles, and two RBI. Those two doubles gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Oscar Jaramillo, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with three stolen bases, three runs, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Pima had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 11.2 runs) and they went ahead and made it six on Wednesday. Everything went their way against the Braves as they made off with a 25-5 win. The Roughriders might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven games by six runs or more this season.
Ramon Vasquez looked comfortable as he pitched 1.1 innings while giving up no earned runs or hits.
At the plate, Adrian Castro was excellent, getting on base in four of his five plate appearances with one home run, four runs, and one stolen base. The team also got some help courtesy of Francisco Yanez, who got on base in all three of his plate appearances with three runs, one stolen base, and two RBI.
Pima kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 4.9 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 contests they've averaged 11.
Pima now has a winning record of 11-10. As for St. Johns, their record is now 5-12.
Friday's matchup will be a test for both teams' pitchers. St. Johns hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .362. However, it's not like Pima struggles in that department as they've averaged .334. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
St. Johns suffered a grim 15-1 defeat to Pima in their previous meeting back in March. Can the Redskins avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
