Jayce Galvez is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Marcos de Niza High School for AZPreps365.com

TEMPE – Marcos de Niza baseball prepares for a rematch against St. Mary’s tonight in Phoenix, following a disappointing loss on Tuesday.

The Padres lost to St. Mary’s on March 24 13-3, in a game ending early at the conclusion of the sixth inning. 

“We beat ourselves,” Marcos de Niza coach Matt Courtney said, describing the team being down 1-0, committing errors, and allowing the other team to score. “We put ourselves in that situation. So, it's one of those situations where we can't beat ourselves.”

The Knights capitalized on Marcos de Niza’s early mistakes, scoring four runs in the second inning and setting themselves up for success the rest of the game.

“I mean, we worked as a team, we got runners on,” shortstop Luis Mejia said. “We usually haven't been moving them, but we moved them today. We stole bags, and we just kept hitting.”

St. Mary’s continued to dominate, not just on the defensive side, but on the offensive side as well.

“Just overall play, we hit the ball,” St. Mary’s coach Chris Rideau said. “We hit the ball, made some timely at bats, got some runs across the plate, played some pretty good defense. It came down to pitching. Our pitcher was phenomenal today.”

Great defense helped push the Knights to a victory, however with two more games in two more days – one of which is a rematch against Marcos de Niza – they need to improve on errors.

“Stop leaving runners on bags, stop leaving runners on bases,” Mejia said about what the team needed to do. “You know, working as a team, I feel like sometimes you get into these little selfish habits. Other than that, you keep moving as a team and keep winning.”

The Padres are looking to seek revenge after a defeating first game, but they won’t change their approach much in preparation for the game, Courtney said. 

On Wednesday, the Knights defeated Bradshaw Mountain in another 13-3 win, showing their focus on whatever team is next on their schedule.

The Padres enter today's game .500 as they are 7-7, while the Knights move to 8-3 following their wins on Tuesday and Wednesday. The two teams play tonight at 7 p.m.