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Totino Grace 3, Chisago Lakes 0

The Wildcats’ Dan Kaiser and the Totino Grace Eagles’ Mark Schroeder battled in a classic pitchers’ duel, but two Wildcat misplays led to three Eagle runs in the seventh inning as the Wildcats lost to the Eagles 3-0 at home Tuesday, April 11.

Zach Stimson led off the bottom of the first for the Wildcats with a double. Lance Baumgard then reached on an error, but the Wildcats couldn’t manage to put across a run. Totino Grace got a hit off of Kaiser in the bottom of the second, and that was the Eagles’ last hit until the seventh inning.

With two outs and the bases empty in the top of the seventh, an Eagle batter hit a weak grounder to the right side of the infield. Kaiser, covering first on the play, saw the throw sail over his head, allowing the batter to reach first safely. The Eagle runner stole second on the next pitch and the batter was intentionally walked. A Wildcat outfielder then misplayed a line drive into a double, allowing the game’s first run to score. The next batter hit a two-run single, and the Eagles had a 3-0 lead.

Jake Kuehl relieved Kaiser and picked the runner off first to end the inning. But the damage was done. The Wildcats went down one-two-three in the bottom of the seventh to leave the final score at Totino Grace 3, Chisago Lakes 0.

“Dan Kaiser pitched a great game,” said Wildcat assistant coach Jay Brown. “He threw strikes and kept the hitters off balance. Our defense played well, but a couple of late miscues really hurt us. We need to communicate a little better and have someone willing to take charge out there. Lance Baumgard looked good making some plays today. Once we start to do the little things, like executing sacrifice bunts, we’ll be a little more threatening to other teams.”.

Totino Grace 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3

Chisago Lakes 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Battery: CL Kaiser, Kuehl (7) and Reed

AB R H RBI

Stimson, cf 3 0 1 0

LeVasseur, rf 3 0 0 0

Baumgard, 3b 3 0 0 0

Gemuenden, 1b 3 0 0 0

Hollister, dh 3 0 0 0

Kopp, 2b 0 0 0 0

Reed, c 2 0 0 0

Butcher, lf 2 0 0 0

Kaiser, p 1 0 0 0

Welle, ph 1 0 0 0

Kuehl, p 1 0 0 0

Claeson, ss 2 0 0 0

2B—Stimson (2)

St. Francis 4, Chisago Lakes 1

For the second game in a row, the Wildcats faced one of the top pitchers in the conference and only managed one hit. They allowed three unearned runs as they lost to the St. Francis Fighting Saints 4-1 at St. Francis.

The Wildcats scored their only run in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, right fielder Tommy Fitzer was hit by a pitch. Fitzer stole second on a delayed steal. Lance Baumgard singled to left for the Wildcats’ only hit of the day. Wildcat coach Pat Collins waved Fitzer around third, the Saints’ left fielder hesitated with his throw, and Fitzer slid home to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

St. Francis scored all the runs they would need in the bottom of the third on an RBI double and a passed ball to go up 2-1. They added single runs in the fourth and fifth. Both St. Francis players reached on errors and later came around to score.

“Jake Kuehl pitched a good game for us,” said Collins, “but it’s hard to match up against someone throwing 86 or 87 miles per hour. And we need to have better communication on pop ups.” Collins was referring to a fourth inning pop up that dropped between two Wildcat infielders when neither one of them took charge of it. “Once we start making little plays, we’ll be all right. From what I’ve seen, I’m excited about the second half of the season.”

Chisago Lakes 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1

St. Francis 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 4

Battery: CL Kuehl, LeVasseur (6) and Reed

AB R H RBI

Stimson, cf 4 0 0 0

Fitzer, rf 1 1 0 0

Willhite, rf 1 0 0 0

Baumgard, 3b 3 0 1 1

Gemuenden, 1b 2 0 0 0

Reed, c 3 0 0 0

Hollister, lf 1 0 0 0

Butcher, lf 1 0 0 0

Welle, dh 2 0 0 0

Kopp, 2b 0 0 0 0

Kuehl, p 2 0 0 0

LeVasseur, p 1 0 0 0

Claeson, ss 3 0 0 0

SB—Fitzer (1)

The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Spring Lake Park Tuesday, April 18. They return home to host Irondale today, Thursday, April 20. They play at Mahtomedi Friday, April 21. Next Tuesday, April 25, they head up the road to North Branch to take on the Vikings. All games start at 4:15 p.m.

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