Cyclones shut down Knights

The Kuemper Catholic Knights rolled into town Monday night to play the HCHS varsity baseball team, but were silenced by senior pitcher Alex Monson, who struck out five batters and pitched a complete game shutout as the Cyclones went on to win, 5-0.

“Alex did an outstanding job last night,” said HCHS Head Baseball Coach Heath Stein. “His pitch count got a little higher than we liked, but he was battling. It was great watching Alex perform last night.”

The Cyclones had just five hits in the game against the Knights, but sophomore outfielder Cade Sears led the way with two hits and two runs driven in. Sears leads the team with 13 hits and has a .371 batting average.

“He’s done a really nice job with the bat,” he said. “He’s in a good spot mentally with his swing right now, so hopefully that continues, plus he is making some of the most incredible catches I’ve maybe seen in high school baseball.”

With this victory, the Cyclones are now 8-2. They have a busy week ahead that will continue Tuesday night on the road against the Atlantic Trojans, 2-7. Junior Teagon Kasperbauer will get the ball for the Cyclones.

“They always seem to step their game up a little bit when they play us,” he added. “We know it’s not going to be easy. Every body in our conference is tough.”