The St. Pius X Sartans will challenge the Bloomfield Bobcats at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. St. Pius X is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last eight games.
St. Pius X is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They had just enough and edged out Grants 3-2.
Hunter Jiron spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on four hits and racked up seven Ks. He has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Kaiden Swanson, who went 1-for-2 with one triple, one stolen base, and one run. The team also got some help courtesy of Jacob Madrid, who went 2-for-3 with one triple and one run.
Meanwhile, Bloomfield faced Albuquerque Academy in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Bobcats skirted past the Chargers 4-2. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Bobcats.
Blake Spencer was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He tossed seven innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits. Spencer was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one RBI.
In other batting news, Gavin Pecotte was excellent, going 2-for-3 with two runs and one double. Trae Woods was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one double.
St. Pius X's victory was their tenth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-11. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Bloomfield, their record is now 23-6.
Everything went St. Pius X's way against Bloomfield in their previous meeting back in May of 2019, as St. Pius X made off with a 9-0 victory. Will the Sartans repeat their success, or do the Bobcats have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
