by Jayden Chavez and Xavier Pena
GRANTS - On Tuesday April 7, the Grants Pirates hit the road to take on the Highland Hornets and came out with a strong win.
The Pirates are now on a seven-game winning streak and are first in District 5-4A with their District record being 3-0.
The Hornets were 3-10 entering this matchup and are now 3-11 in the regular season and 0-2 in District play.
The Pirates started the game off hot with three runs in the top of the first, though the Hornets responded with two runs in the bottom of the first, to make the score 3-2 in favor of Grants.
The Pirates then retaliated with three more runs in the top of the second and popped off with six more runs in the top of the fourth, giving them the lead at 12-2.
The Hornets responded with one more run in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the deficit to nine, but the Pirates then ended the game with one more run in the top of the sixth making the final score 13-3.
The Pirates finished with eleven hits on the day, while the Hornets ended up having five hits. The Pirates used three different pitchers, sophomore Daniel Garcia, who ended up throwing eighteen pitches, followed by senior Estevan Barela (27 pitches), then ending off the night with freshman Joziah Ortega, who threw 72 pitches.
The Pirates are soon to have a big District game coming up on Friday April 17 at 6pm at home against the Belen Eagles who are currently undefeated in District play with a record of 2-0, good for second overall in District contests.
This is going to be a very intense game between the two undefeated teams as one team will no longer be undefeated in District play anymore.
So stay tuned for further results and updates.