Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg extended their losing streak to five on Thursday, dropping their season record down to 2-5 in the process. They lost 9-1 to the MACCRAY Wolverines. The home team had taken home the W every time these teams have met since May 26, 2018, but that streak is no more.
As for MACCRAY, the win (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 4-4. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games.
For MACCRAY's part, Jase Dirksen made a splash no matter where he played. He struck out 12 batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits (and only one walk). Dirksen is becoming a predictor of MACCRAY's success: when he allows at most three earned runs the team is 2-1 (and 2-3 when he doesn't). Dirksen was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one home run. He also scored a run, marking his first of the season.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Xavier Noble, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, three runs, and one double. Noble is crushing it when it comes to stolen bases: he's snagged at least one every time he's taken the field this season. Lane Osterfeld was another key player, going 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run.
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg and MACCRAY could both be facing uphill battles in their next games considering their disadvantage in the MaxPreps Minnesota Rankings. The Fighting Saints will challenge Minneota at 4:30 p.m. on Friday with a big rank disadvantage (230 vs. 113). Meanwhile, MACCRAY (ranked 163rd) will meet Montevideo (ranked 20th) at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
