These teams find themselves atop the Hiawatha Valley League standings entering Tuesday’s showdown, which is refreshing for a Cannon Falls team that won the conference crown two years ago but limped to a .500 league record and 6-9 overall finish in last year's regular season.
Cannon Falls (9-2, 7-1) has been dropping a heavy payload on its opponents, scoring eight or more runs in six games already this season, and the team is getting production up and down the lineup. Sophomore Riley Miller had two hits, including a triple, and drove in three runs while Cooper Peterson, a junior, contributed three hits in an 18-12 loss to Pine Island last Thursday.
The Bombers exploded for 20 runs the next day, rallying to defeat Kenyon-Wanamingo 6-5 and 14-3 in a doubleheader.
Even with its offensive capabilities, Cannon Falls will have a difficult assignment trying to defeat Rochester Lourdes (8-0, 6-0), which packs its own offensive punch.
The Eagles have scored at least eight runs in all but one contest — a 5-1 win against Stewartville in the first game of a doubleheader last Friday — to start the week. To follow that, the Eagles soared to a 15-5 win in the second game against the Tigers.
In an 11-1 win against Kenyon-Wanamingo on April 23, senior Brady Kraling had two hits, drove in four runs and scored twice while teammate Matthew Hayford, a senior, added a pair of hits and two RBI.