Two teams that had been gathering momentum in June collided Monday night in the Battle of 42nd Street at Kennedy High School.

Kennedy kept its momentum. Xavier lost theirs.

The surging Cougars swept the No.10 Saints, 2-1 in nine innings and 4-3, in a Mississippi Valley Conference twinbill.

Both games were well-pitched, but the opener was truly a pitching duel between Xavier’s Mitch Keller and Kennedy’s Zack Daniels (who gave way to David King in the ninth).

Keller went 8 1/3 innings, giving up six hits while striking out 12.

“It was a tight game and that was easy enough to deal with,” said Keller. “We just didn’t come out swinging tonight, but we will bounce back.”

Daniels, a sophomore, struck out seven batters and yielded only two hits in eight innings.

“I just stayed focused on hitting the mitt,” said Daniels. “I pitched what the coach called and didn’t try to do too much. The defense came up with some big plays.”

King relieved Daniels in the ninth and got help from a double play that went from Ben Sass to Joel Smetzer to Jared Staton to end the inning. King picked up his fifth win, all in relief.

“I do whatever I can to help out,” said King. “We focus on the mental part of the game, so I relax and do my job.”

Andrew Johnson and Smetzer collected two hits in the first game. Johnson made the defensive play of the game with a diving catch of a line drive in right-center to rob Bryce Grimm of extra bases.

“He (Keller) pitches hard, so you just work the count and try to square up on a good pitch,” said Johnson. “That catch was exciting. I got a good jump on the ball and it was way cooler than the two hits.”

In the first game, both of Kennedy’s runs scored on ground balls to second base. The first one was driven in by Matt Stevens in the sixth and the game-winner was by Daniels with one out in the ninth.

The Saints (19-11, 12-8) had nine hits in the second game. Luke Hammerberg, Zach Brown and Jordan Ratz had two apiece, but a couple of baserunning mistakes and an inability to get the key hit hurt the Saints.

“We made too many mistakes in the second game,” said Xavier Coach Dave Schemmel. “We out-hit them and then we couldn’t get the key hit or they seemed to make the key play.”

Sophomore Blake Hargens pitched five innings to get the win in game two with help from King and a save for Derek Jacobus. Sass picked up a pair of singles for the Cougars. Stevens, Sammy Lizarraga and Daniels had an RBI for Kennedy.

The Cougars raised their records to 15-9 overall and 12-6 in the conference.

“It feels real good to beat a really good team,” said Kennedy Coach Bret Hoyer. “We played through some execution issues in the first game and we made some really big plays in critical situations all night.

“We are going to be really tested this week,” said Hoyer. “It’s exactly what we need at this time in the season.”

Kennedy hosts top-ranked Ankeny Tuesday night in a doubleheader at 5 p.m.

GAME 1

XAVIER (1): Grimm, cf, 4 0 0 0, Woods, ss, 4 0 0 0, Pick, 1b, 1 0 0 0, Dlouhy, 2b, 2 0 0 0, Robinson, pr, 0 0 0 0, Brown, 3b, 3 1 0 0, Ratz, rf, 4 0 1 1, Hammerberg, c, 4 0 0 0, Drahozal, cr, 0 0 0 0, Meaney, lf, 3 0 1 0, Schulte, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Keller, p, 3 0 0 0. Totals 31 1 2 1.

KENNEDY (2): Jacobus, ss, 4 0 1 0, Daniels, p, 3 0 0 1, Fifield, cr 0 0 0 0, Johnson, cf/lf, 3 1 2 0, Staton, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Stevens, rf, 4 0 0 1, Maiers, c, 3 0 0 0, Pauls, cr, 0 0 0 0, Smetzer, 2b, 4 1 2 0, Skow, dh, 3 0 0 0, Sass, 3b, 0 0 0 0, Moa, lf, 3 0 1 0, King, p, 0 0 0 0. Totals 30 2 6 2.

Xavier       000 100 000 - 1 2 2
Kennedy   000 001 001 - 2 6 5

Keller and Hammerberg. Daniels, King (9) and Maiers. W - King. L - Keller. 2B - Johnson, Smetzer. SB - Johnson, Moa.

GAME 2

XAVIER (3): Grimm, cf, 4 1 1 0, Woods, 3b/p, 3 1 0 0, Hammerberg, dh, 4 0 2 0, Helms c, 0 0 0 0, Brown, p/3b,2 0 2 1, Clarahan, cr, 0 0 0 0, Ratz, rf, 4 0 2 0, Drahozal, pr, 0 0 0 0, Schulte, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Meaney, lf, 3 0 1 0, Dlouhy, 2b, 2 1 1 0, Harriott, ph, 0 0 0 0, Keller, ss, 2 0 0 0. Totals 27 3 9 1.

KENNEDY (4): Jacobus, cf/p, 3 0 0 0, Daniels, ss, 4 0 1 1, Johnson, lf/cf, 2 1 0 0, Staton, 1b, 3 1 0 0, Stevens, rf, 3 0 1 1, Maiers, c, 3 0 0 0, Smetzer, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Skow, dh, 3 2 1 0, Hargens, p, 0 0 0 0, King, p, 0 0 0 0, Moa, lf, 0 0 0 0, Sass, 3b, 3 0 2 0, Lizarraga, 2b/c, 3 0 1 1. Totals 27 4 6 3.

Xavier         110 000 1 - 3 9 5
Kennedy     210 100 x - 4 6 1

Brown, Woods (5) and Helms. Hargens, King (6), Jacobus (7) and Maiers, Lizarraga. W - Hargens. L - Brown. S - Jacobus. 2B - Hammerberg, Meaney. SB - Daniels, Staton, Stevens, Sass.