Benilde-St. Margaret’s got key contributions from B-Squad call ups Riley Simonetti and John Vecere in a 7-5 win over North Branch as the Red Knights split a pair of game, having lost 11-1 at Cretin-Derham Hall earlier in the day.

In the first game of the twinbill, the Raiders hit three home runs, two of which came in their three-run first inning, en route to a five-inning win.

BSM’s lone run came in the third inning and cut the CDH lead to 3-1 as Jimmy Cron led off with a single. One out later, courtesy runner Chris Racchini advanced to second on Marshall Hoemke’s ground out before Dan Labosky singled up the middle to drive in the run.

After the 10 a.m. game in St. Paul, which took just one hour, 13 minutes to play, the Red Knights returned home for a 1:30 p.m. game against the Vikings in a North Suburban Conference game.

North Branch appeared ready to play against a sluggish BSM squad as the Vikings jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings, using two hits, four walks, a hit batter and a Red Knight error.

The hosts finally managed to put a run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when John O’Connor as hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He moved to second on Labosky’s sacrifice bunt and score on a Keaton Studsrud double.

With Colin Polarek working three scoreless innings of relief on the mound, BSM managed to keep the game within reach until the fifth when, once again, O’Connor was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. A walk to Labosky and a single by Studsrud loaded the bases before Michael Kaminski singled in one run and Mikey McGill and Grant Besse both walked to tie the game.

Nathan Hanks hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Hoemke with the go-ahead run and Simonetti, who entered the game defensively in the top of the third inning to make his varsity debut, single up the middle to drive in both Besse and McGill.

In the top of the sixth, Vecere took over on the mound with a three-run lead, needing to lead his team through the final two innings.

Ethan Fairbanks led off the sixth inning for the Vikings with a triple and scored on a ground out but Vecere retired the final three batters of the inning to keep the BSM lead at two runs.

In the seventh, Vecere gave up a leadoff single before getting the next three batters he faced to earn the save.

Besides earning the victory on the mound, Polarek added a pair of base hits offensively while Studsrud went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

The Red Knights have one more home game remaining on the 2013 schedule as they take on Robbinsdale Cooper, Monday, at 4:15 p.m., in the first of three conference this week. The Red Knights and Hawks both have one loss in conference play and are contending for the NSC title.

BSM’s three seniors, Besse, Labosky and Matt Ambre, will be honored prior to the game as part of Senior Night festivities.

The other two one-loss teams in the conference, Totino-Grace and Irondale, are also on the schedule this week at BSM visits the Eagles, Wednesday, in a 4:15 p.m. game before wrapping up the conference slate with a 4:15 p.m. game at Irondale, Friday.

For a PDF version of this story, along with box scores, play-by-plays and complete statistics for both games, click here.