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St. Francis 5, Chisago Lakes 2

A bad hop on a double play ball and, two batters later, a line drive grand slam that stayed just fair accounted for all five fifth-inning runs for the St. Francis Fighting Saints as they defeated the Chisago Lakes Wildcats 5-2 at Chisago Lakes Tuesday, May 10.

The Wildcats scratched across two early runs. In the first inning, Adam Gemuenden was hit by a pitch with two out. He scored on Lance Baumgard’s double to deep left field to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. In the second, Tommy Fitzer led off with a ground ball to short and ended up reaching second as the shortstop threw the ball over the first baseman’s head. Fitzer scored on Mike Welle’s single to put the Wildcats up 2-0.

Wildcat starting pitcher Dan Kaiser cruised through the first four innings. He allowed no hits. The only two baserunners in the first four innings reached on errors.

In the fifth, the first Fighting Saint batter broke up Kaiser’s no-hitter with a double to left. The next batter popped out. A wild pitch moved the runner to third and a walk put runners at first and third. The next batter hit what looked to be a sure double play ball at shortstop Cory Claeson. But the ball took a bad hop and hit Claeson in the chin, scoring one run and leaving runners on first and second. A single loaded the bases. The next batter pulled the first pitch he saw on a line toward the left field corner. It looked like the ball would curve foul or, at the very least, hit off the fence. But the ball stayed just inches fair and cleared the fence by less than a foot for a grand slam. Now the Wildcats trailed by three runs.

In the bottom of the fifth, Zach Stimson walked with one out and Adam Gemuenden walked with two outs. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch. But a fly out to center ended the inning. The Fighting Saints set the Wildcats down 1-2-3 in the sixth and seventh innings, leaving the final score St. Francis 5, Chisago Lakes 2.

“Dan Kaiser pitched well,” said Wildcat head coach Pat Collins. “St. Francis only hit three balls hard the whole game. We played well in the field. Unfortunately, a bad hop and a ball that barely made it over the fence made the difference. It’s getting a little frustrating. We’re playing the good teams -- like St. Francis, Totino Grace and Cooper – close, but we end up with the same results.”

St. Francis 000 050 0 5

Chisago Lakes 110 000 0 2

Battery: CL Kaiser, Kuehl (7) and Reed

AB R H RBI

Stimson, cf 3 0 0 0

Claeson, ss 3 0 0 0

Gemuenden,1b 1 1 1 0

Baumgard, lf 3 0 1 1

LeVasseur, 3b 3 0 0 0

Fitzer, rf 3 1 0 0

Butcher, rf 0 0 0 0

Willhite, rf 0 0 0 0

Welle, dh 3 0 2 1

Kopp, 2b 0 0 0 0

Reed, c 3 0 0 0

Kaiser, p 2 0 0 0

Kuehl, p 1 0 0 0

2B—Baumgard (4)

The Wildcat game with Irondale scheduled for Friday, May 12 was rained out and rescheduled for Tuesday, May 16.

The Wildcats play six games in nine days to close out the regular season. They were scheduled to play at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Irondale and Totino Grace Monday through Wednesday of this week. They return home to play Fridley tomorrow, Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m. Next week they’ll travel to Princeton to play a 4:30 p.m. game Monday, May 22, and will close out the regular season at home against Forest Lake Tuesday, May 23 at 7 p.m.

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