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The Chisago Lakes Wildcats remained the only undefeated Class AAA high school baseball team in the State of Minnesota as they won all four games last week. That raised their record to 11-0 overall and 7-0 in the North Suburban Conference. In the most recent Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association poll, the Wildcats were ranked sixth.

CL 3, Robbinsdale Cooper 0

The Wildcats scored three runs in the first two innings and it was all Dan Kaiser needed as he pitched his first shutout of the year. The Wildcats beat conference rival Robbinsdale Cooper 3-0 at Chisago Lakes Monday, April 23.

Andy Slagle walked to open the bottom of the first for the Wildcats. The next batter, Tom Fitzer, singled to right on a hit-and-run. The throw came to third too late to get Slagle and Fitzer advanced to second on the throw. Adam Gemuenden was hit by a pitch to load the bases. On a 2-2 pitch, Jeff Hollister doubled to deep left center to score Slagle and Fitzer.

The Wildcats got their other run in the second inning. Eric Reed led off with a single and advanced to third on a pair of groundouts. Slagle walked and stole second. Fitzer, on a 2-1 count, surprised everyone in the park by laying a great bunt down the third base line. It worked like a safety squeeze as Reed scored. With the third baseman playing back, Fitzer easily reached first for a single and the Wildcats led 3-0.

The Hawks threatened to score in the top of the third. Two singles and an error put runners on second and third with one out. But Kaiser got the next batter to fly out to short right and struck out the Hawks' number three hitter to end the inning. Kaiser allowed just two hits and one walk for the game, while striking out two. The Wildcats turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the game and put an exclamation point on the 3-0 victory.

"Dan had struggled a little in his prior start," said Wildcat head coach Pat Collins. "I challenged him to give us a pitching performance worthy of a number one starter. He accepted the challenge, concentrated well and pitched a great game.

CL2, St. Louis Park 1

The Wildcats scored two runs in the top of the first inning, and rode a stellar pitching performance by Bob LeVasseur to beat the St. Louis Park Orioles 2-1 at St. Louis Park Tuesday, April 24.

With one out in the top of the first, Tom Fitzer hit a bloop to center. The Oriole center fielder dove for it and it ticked off the end of his glove for a single. Adam Gemuenden then blasted the next pitch over the center filed fence for a home run to give the Wildcats the early 2-1 lead.

But that was the only mistake the Oriole pitcher made all day. The Wildcats managed just six more baserunners the rest of the game. But LeVasseur was more than equal to the task. He allowed just one unearned run, six hits, no walks and struck out five.

The Orioles scored an unearned run in the fifth inning. The first two batters singled, and the next batter grounded into a force at second to leave runners at first and third with one out. LeVasseur then helped his own cause with a fantastic pickoff move that nailed the runner at first. But, with two outs, a Wildcat error on a ground ball allowed the Oriole run to score. LeVasseur didn't let it rattle him, striking out the next hitter to end the Oriole rally. LeVasseur retired all of the batters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings, and ended the game by striking out the last two batters.

"Bob's a very smart pitcher," said Collins. He holds the ball on some batters and quick pitches others. He's crafty, takes charge on the mound and pitches well to spots. That enables him to beat teams without a blazing fastball. He's a good student of the game."

"Their kid pitched very well, too," continued Collins. "It's amazing how baseball is such a game of inches. If the center fielder catches Tommy's ball in the first inning and gets Adam's homer, which made it just over his glove, we might have lost that game 1-0. But things are going our way. Rivard made a catch in the sixth of a ball that looked like it was going over the fence. I guess I'd rather be lucky than good. Last year, those breaks didn't go our way and we lost seven one-run games. We could just as easily have had a good record last year. I'm glad it's all coming together now."

Chisago Lakes 20, St. Francis 5

The Wildcats scored seven runs in the first inning and rolled to a 20-5 win over the St. Francis Fighting Saints Thursday, April 26 at St. Francis.

The Wildcats sent 12 men to the plate in the first, collecting six hits and three walks. They scored at least two runs in every inning. The only thing that stopped them was the 10-run rule, which ended the game after five innings.

Twelve of the fifteen Wildcats had hits as coach Collins emptied his bench. The game's leading hitters included Bob LeVasseur, who went three for five with four RBIs; Mike Welle, two for three with three RBIs; Eric Reed, two for two with a double and three RBIs; and Dan Kaiser, three for four with a double and three RBIs.

Mike Welle allowed two earned runs in four innings to run his record to 3-0 on the season. Ryan Rivard pitched a scoreless fifth.

CL16, Columbia Heights 4

The Hylanders probably felt more like lowlanders as the Wildcat hitters picked up where they left off on Thursday, piling up hits and runs as they pummeled Columbia Heights 16-4 at Heights Friday, April 27.

Adam Gemuenden hit his second two-run, first-inning homer of the week to get things going. The Hylander leadoff hitter made a bid for a double to lead off the bottom of the first, but Tom Fitzer's diving catch in the right-center field gap turned it into the first out of the game.

The Hylanders did score to make it 2-1 Wildcats after two innings, but the Wildcats exploded for seven runs in the top of the third to turn the game into a rout. First baseman Ross Jones helped to quell any thoughts of a Hylander comeback in the bottom of the third. Jeff Hollister made a nice charging pickup of a slow roller and Jones scooped his low throw to nip the runner at first and keep the bases empty.

Hitting stars for the Wildcats included Ryan Rivard, who was three for four with four RBIs; Gemuenden, two for three with three RBS and a home run; and Eric Reed, two for two with two doubles and three RBIs. Chris Wille also had two hits after replacing Mike Welle in the third inning.

Ryan Rivard allowed one unearned run and struck out two in four innings to pick up the victory. Andy Slagle, the current shortstop, caught the last two innings for the Wildcats, giving ironman Eric Reed only his second and third innings off so far this season.

"David Willhite did a good job at short when we moved Andy behind the plate," said Collins. "And Bob's kind of our Cesar Tovar. He can play anywhere. We still realize we're just lucky to have Bob around. Our guys hit the ball well these last two games and they're playing with a lot of confidence. Hopefully it carries over to this week. This is a fun bunch of kids and a fun situation to be around. We need to continue to work hard, play hard, stay on an even keel and do the little things right to try to win the rest of the games."

The Wildcats play twice this week. They were scheduled to play at Fridley Wednesday, May 2, and then return home to host Totino Grace Friday, May 4 at 4:30 p.m. "Even though Totino Grace is sometimes seen as the team to beat in this conference, every game is equally important. Since everyone else in the conference has at least two conference losses, we control our own destiny. We just need to keep winning the next game. For the regular season, the seniors only have nine games left, and they need to enjoy each one."

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