Yuma baseball steamrolls Cholla in 4A Play-In
The Criminals ride a nine run inning to a mercy rule victory over Cholla in the 4A play-in round.
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The Yuma Criminals scored nine runs in the 5th inning in route to a 10-0 victory over the Cholla Mustangs in the 4A Play-In round on Wednesday.
No. 12 Yuma advances to the 4A Round of 16. No. 21 Cholla is eliminated from the postseason.
Both starting pitchers rolled through the lineups in the first four innings. In the 5th inning, Kevin Garcia drove in Alonzo Fierro on a sacrifice fly to break the deadlock and give the Criminals a 1-0 lead. The floodgates then opened, as Yuma rallied off nine runs in the inning. In the 6th, Kane Huerta-Urbalejo scored off a Juan Ayala RBI single to seal the 10-0 mercy rule victory.
"It's very contagious and it's buying in from these guys," Yuma head coach Nick Johnson said about the nine run inning. "They believe everything we have to tell them. Those guys will run through a brick wall if we ask them to."
Yuma now awaits Thursday's AIA bracket reveal to find out there opponent, but Coach Johnson is confident regardless of their upcoming opponent.
"It's all about getting hot at the right time," he said. "Hopefully that's the spark we need to carry into the next round."
The 4A Round of 16 will take place on Saturday.
