Over the span of a long weekend, St. Aloysius went from the driver’s seat of the MAIS District 4-5A baseball championship race to trying to desperately recover from a spinout on the final lap.

Drake Cox went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Cathedral fended off a seventh-inning rally to beat St. Al 4-3 on Monday in a pivotal game.

St. Al scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning on a double by Evan Mallard, but he was stranded at third base as the tying run.

Will Roberson was 2-for-3 and scored a run for the Flashes. Clark Hobson hit an RBI single and pitched four innings. Hobson allowed two runs, on three hits and three walks, while striking out one.

The loss was the third in a row for St. Al (13-10, 4-3 District 4-5A) after it won its first four district games. It was swept in a doubleheader by Copiah Academy last Friday.

The losing streak knocked the Flashes out of first place, and has forced them into a position where they must sweep a doubleheader from Cathedral (14-9, 4-3) this Friday at Bazinsky Field to win the district title. Another loss could drop them as low as third place, depending on the outcome of this week’s series between Copiah (6-16-1, 3-3) and Adams County Christian School (11-8, 1-5).

All four teams from District 4-5A will qualify for the MAIS Class 5A playoffs.