Mankato West at Northfield
5 p.m., Tuesday, May 5

Just a half-game separates Mankato West (8-2, 6-2) from Northfield (11-2, 6-1) atop the Big 9 Conference standings as the first full week of May begins — and that’s solely because of a wild 12-9 win for Northfield in their head-to-head meeting on April 16.

The Scarlets led 6-2 in the second inning, but the Raiders rallied with five runs in the fourth inning to take the lead. Thomas McDonald reached base all four of his plate appearances, while Thomas Meland had three RBI and Caleb Malek homered for the Raiders.

This Tuesday, the Scarlets get a chance to flip that earlier result and close on the Raiders, but they’ll have to slow an offense that has scored double-digit runs in nine of 13 games this year.