Kings' baseball runs into ASU-bound buzzsaw

The 5A baseball state playoff seedings can be a little misleading. It really just comes down to who's on the mound that day.

And Kofa ran into one of the top pitching prospects in the state Saturday.

Kyle Brule, Marcos de Niza's hard-throwing Arizona State-bound right-hander, went the distance, limiting the Kings to one run on just two hits while striking out 10 to help the No. 12 Padres deal fifth-seeded Kofa a 5-1 setback in the opening round of the 5A Division II state tournament at Boemer Field.

"The only good thing about it is an ASU guy beat us," Kofa coach Richy Leon said. "That's my old alma mater, so ASU is going to get a pretty good one from what he showed today. As a coach, I felt like we weren't ready to play early in the ballgame. We made some miscues and gave them a run here and there and you can't do that against a good ballclub with a great pitcher on the mound."

The Kings' (17-11) season has been reduced to one game from here on out in the double-elimination tournament. Kofa plays at No. 4 Glendale-Deer Valley at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Deer Valley lost to No. 13 Phoenix-Barry Goldwater.

Both of Kofa's hits came during the third inning. Jared Lee led off with an infield single deep in the hole at shortstop, and third baseman Daniel Martinez grounded a chopper up the middle for a two-out RBI single to pull the Kings to within 3-1.

Brule fanned at least one in every inning but the second.

"Kyle Brule pitched like a man today," Marcos de Niza coach Felipe Becerra said. "He's our go-to guy. We knew Kofa had a really tough team and we would have to pitch our best and play our best to beat these guys, and we did that today."

Kofa starting pitcher Preston Burrell did all he could to keep his team in the game. He was the victim of some shaky defense during the early innings.

The Kings committed one error in each of the first three innings, and the Padres (13-17) capitalized with three unearned runs.

Burrell worked 6 2-3 innings, scattering seven hits while only allowing one earned run.

"To me, he didn't have his best stuff, but he competed. You can't ask for anything more," Leon said of Burrell. "Things just happened out there that he couldn't control."

Though Kofa's back is now to the wall, Leon added he and his coaching staff have been preparing the players for such a situation all season.

"We've been preaching that we need to have a sense of urgency all year long," Leon said. "It's a one-game season and you can only control the games in front of you. I guess now it's not a figure of speech, it's reality."

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Derrik Miller can be reached at

dmiller@yumasun.com or 782-6520.