The Kofa Kings will challenge the Yuma Criminals at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Kofa took a loss when they played away from home on Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They blew past Cibola 9-3. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last five times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Kofa got a massive performance out of Ryan Rosas, who went 2-for-3 with one triple, one stolen base, and two RBI. Fabian Burgos was another key player, going 1-for-2 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI.
Meanwhile, Yuma waltzed into their match on Thursday with seven straight wins... but they left with eight. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Golden Hawks a 10-0 shutout. The Criminals might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 14 games by seven runs or more this season.
Not much got past Eli Lujan, who gave up just two hits and racked up seven Ks to keep Desert Sunrise off the board. Lujan has been consistent recently: he hasn't given up more than two hits in three consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Deven Aguirrebarrena, who went 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, two runs, and two RBI. That's the most stolen bases he has posted since back in April of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaime Ruelas, who went 1-for-3 with one triple, one stolen base, and one run.
Yuma was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .467. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .414 or higher in three consecutive contests.
Yuma's victory was their 16th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 20-5-1. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.4 runs on average over those games. As for Kofa, the victory got them back to even at 10-10.
Kofa couldn't quite get it done against Yuma when the teams last played back in April of 2024 as they fell 4-0. Will the Kings have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
