Talk about home field advantage. Arizona’s All-Star Baseball Academy used the comforts of their home state to triumph in the championship of the AABA (14u) Sandy Koufax World Series, defeating the Puerto Rico Warriors 13-5 Sunday at Surprise Stadium.

Arizona scored big early and even bigger late, putting up five runs in the first inning and six in the sixth to roll to victory in a matchup that coach Roumaldo Romero said he was hoping wouldn’t even happen.

“To be honest I really wanted to play Michigan,” Romero said, referring to the team that Puerto Rico had beaten earlier in the day to advance to the final. Arizona defeated Puerto Rico in the second round of the tournament before losing to Michigan in the quarterfinals.

“They had beaten us before, so we really wanted them bad,” he said, adding that the Puerto Rico matchup also scared him because “it’s tough to beat somebody twice.”

But the Arizona team took care of business just as they had done the first time, attacking the Puerto Rico pitching and getting the timely hits they needed to take home the title.

Arizona wasted no time getting on the board, sending 10 batters to the plate in a five-run bottom of the first. Dillon Jackson brought in the game’s first run with a bases-loaded walk, Lucas Treffers singled home another and Austin Locke lofted a sacrifice fly to left to make it 3-0. After a walk, pitcher Bradley Kuhlin helped his own cause with a two-run single to right, and all of a sudden Arizona was up by five.

Puerto Rico tried to start a comeback, scoring two runs in the top of the second. But Arizona answered right back with two of their own in the third, courtesy of an RBI single by Eric Wagner and a run-scoring groundout by Michael Lucero.

Puerto Rico again tried to claw its way back with two runs in the fourth to make it 7-4, but ended the inning with two runners left in scoring position, losing their best chance to close the gap.

They scored one more time in the sixth to cut their deficit to two, but that’s when Arizona busted it wide open, scoring six times as five of the first six batters of the inning reached base. Wagner highlighted the inning with a two-out double down the line in left that knocked in two runs. With Wagner then on second, Lucero singled through the hole on the left side of the infield to bring him in. That hit ended the game by run rule, giving Arizona the championship.

“The guys hit the ball and put the ball in play all tournament,” Romero said. “They got confident, got on a roll, and they were able to get the win.”

Lucero was crowned the tournament’s batting champion after the game, having gone 12-for-16 for a .750 average to lead all players. Puerto Rico’s Johnny Pozo was named the tournament MVP. Pozo went 9-for-17 during the tournament with eight RBI. In the finale, he knocked in two of Puerto Rico’s runs and had their only two extra-base hits.