Knights Baseball Drops Out Of First Place With Loss

Monticello doubled-up on baseball and softball victories against St. Michael-Albertville on Thursday, casting a pall on the Knights' mid-week athletic schedules.

Baseball: Knights Fall Out Of First Place In Mississippi 8

A 2-0 loss to visiting Monticello on Thursday knocked the St. Michael-Albertville baseball team out of first place in the Mississippi 8 Conference standings.

After defeating Grand Rapids, 10-5, in a non-conference game on Wednesday, the Knights saw their four-game winning streak come to an end in its final regular-season home game.

STMA out-hit the visitors, but committed three errors that handed the game to Monticello despite Knights pitcher Brian Lavallee allowing just three hits and striking out six in a complete game defeat.

Buffalo now holds a one-game lead on STMA with one conference game remaining; the Knights play at circuit rival Big Lake next Tuesday before closing out the regular season at St. Cloud Tech in a non-conference matchup next Thursday.

Softball: Knights Close Regular Season With Loss

A 3-2 loss in nine innings at Monticello on Thursday wrapped up the St. Michael-Albertville softball team's regular season with an 11-9 overall record and a Mississippi 8 mark of 9-7.

Rachel Hackenmueller and Kelsey Blank share the Knights lead in batting average with identical .357 batting averages after logging 20 hits in 56 at-bats apiece; Blank's 15 runs batted in also pace the team.

Torey Malerich put together an 8-7 record in 95 2/3 innings pitched, posting a 2.34 earned run average with 70 strikeouts.

STMA earned a No. 7 seed for the Section 5AAA Tournament and is scheduled to play 10th-seeded Rogers at Rice Creek Park in Shoreview on May 23 at 3:30 p.m.

Golf: Knights Ninth, 12th At St. Cloud Invitational

The St. Michael-Albertville golf teams both competed at the St. Cloud Country Club Invitational on Thursday, with the Knights boys carding a 314 to finish ninth in its competition and the girls firing a 391 to take 12th in its event. Individual statistics were not available.