Ian Sacks is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Saint Mary’s for AZPreps365.com.

PHOENIX – Three days after allowing 10 runs in a loss at Shadow Mountain, Saint Mary’s turned to Alonso Contreras, who silenced the Matadors’ bats in the Knights’ 7-4 victory Friday evening on their home field at Washington High School.

Contreras, who pitched just three innings last season due to an injury, struck out the first seven batters he faced.

“[Contreras] came out the first few innings and completely shut us down,” Shadow Mountain coach Troy Farnsworth said. “We were in a hole right from the beginning.”

The righty amassed 10 strikeouts and picked up his second victory of the season. He allowed three runs on three hits.

“I felt great command of the fast ball,” Contreras said. “I feel like I was able to throw it where I wanted. It felt great.”

Offensively, the Glendale Community College commit went 2-for-4 and is hitting an astounding .700 (42-for-60) for the season. He belted his fourth homer of the year with a two-run blast over the right field wall to give the Knights the lead for good in the bottom of the third. The senior is now up to 32 RBI on the season.

“The kid is special,” Saint Mary’s coach Chris Rideau said. “He’s going out there and playing with his heart. We tell these kids: ‘play with your heart, play with your minds, and good things will happen.’”

Saint Mary’s senior Alonso Contreras is hitting .700 with four homers and 32 RBI for the season. (Photo by Ian Sacks/AZPreps365.com)

The Knights (12-7 overall, 4-1 4A Skyline) struck first when Shadow Mountain starter Kyle Anderson walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning. Anderson's wild pitch then allowed St. Mary's senior Roman Valenzuela to break for home and score, but the Knights would be unable to exact further damage.

The Matadors (12-6 overall, 3-1 4A Skyline) took the lead in the top of the third with a pair of runs. Anderson smacked an RBI single, and Jason Datta knocked in a run by reaching on an error.

Datta and Joey Meyn went a combined 0-for-8 on the day. On Tuesday the duo had gone 5-for-7 with four RBI in Shadow Mountain’s 10-4 win over Saint Mary’s.

The hosts responded in the bottom of the fourth as Contreras gave them the lead back with his home run. David Galindo added another run by scoring on a passed ball.

With Saint Mary’s holding a narrow 4-3 lead entering the fifth inning, Diego Millan shut the door by allowing just one run on two hits in three innings of relief.

“I put him in a very difficult spot,” Rideau said. “He struggled a little bit with his command but buckled down. That’s a good hitting baseball team, so I was very proud of him from that standpoint.”

At the dish, Millan reached base three times as he belted an RBI single and drew two walks. Galindo also drew two walks and registered a single. He scored his second run of the game during the Knights’ fifth-inning rally.

The junior drew a one-out walk and then advanced to third thanks to two balks by Matador pitchers. Anderson was called for the first balk as he came off the rubber awkwardly and was removed from pitching. Kevin Anderson was then inserted to pitch and lasted less than one batter as he was called for a balk, too, and was ejected for voicing his dislike for the call.

The Knights capitalized on the Shadow Mountain struggles as Millan smacked an RBI single off Trenton Seibert, and Orlando Figueroa drove in two more with a base hit up the middle.

The victory put Saint Mary’s a half game ahead of Shadow Mountain for first place in the region standings. The Knights have won four of their last five and have outscored their opponents 45-17 during that stretch. The Matadors saw their five-game winning streak snapped.

“This is probably the biggest win we’ll have this year,” Contreras said. “Our goal the past few years has been winning the region. We haven’t won it in a while, so we’re all excited and pumped about this win.”

It is a quick turnaround for the Knights as they hit I-17 and head north to face Flagstaff (9-12 overall, 1-5 4A Grand Canyon) Saturday morning at 11 a.m. The Matadors are set to visit Moon Valley (4-6-1 overall, 3-1-1 4A Skyline) Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m.