Rochester Lourdes at Cannon Falls
5 p.m., Thursday, April 21

Rochester Lourdes fell to Kasson-Mantorville 6-2 last Friday, its first conference loss in Hiawatha Valley play since 2014 after going 17-0 and finishing fourth at state last season.

Despite the loss, the Eagles (2-1, 2-1) looked just fine in their other two games last week, picking up a 13-0 victory over Triton April 11, then totaling 20 hits in a 16-7 win over Plainview-Elgin-Millville April 16.

Rochester Lourdes returns only three starters from last year’s roster which boasted 13 seniors. Junior Sam Hanson may be the ace the Eagles were looking for after throwing 12 strikeouts in a one-hit, five-inning shutout against Triton.

The Bombers (3-1, 3-0) bounced back from a 6-9 loss to No. 8-3A Holy Angels on April 12 and rolled Goodhue 13-0 in five innings on  April 14.

It was a collective effort as No. 8-2A Cannon Falls had eight different runners score and five different batters register RBI. Junior second baseman Liam Franken hit 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs. Michael Monson pitched a four-inning, one-hit shutout.

The defending Hiawatha Valley Gold Division champion Eagles won all three meetings with the Bombers last season, including a victory in the Class 2A, Section 1 quarterfinals.