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Chisago Lakes 11, Fridley 0

The Wildcats continued their domination of the North Suburban Conference, winning their third game in a row by more than 10 runs by pounding Fridley 11-0 at Fridley Friday, May 4.

Adam Gemuenden doubled in Tommy Fitzer to put the Wildcats on the board in the first. With one out in the second, Chris Wille walked, Ryan Rivard grounded into a fielder's choice, Andy Slagle walked and Fitzer bunted for a base hit to load the bases with two outs. Gemuenden smoked a double to deep left center, scoring Rivard and Slagle. Fitzer was cut down at the plate on a close play, but the Wildcats led 3-0 after two innings.

In the fourth, Wille walked, stole second and scored on Slagle's single. The Wildcats added three more in the fifth. Gemuenden and Jeff Hollister walked. Pinch hitter Ross Jones bunted to move the runners up a base and beat the throw to first for a base hit. Bob LeVasseur's sacrifice fly scored Gemuenden. Eric Reed doubled in Hollister and Wille's sacrifice fly scored courtesy runner Andrew Verhey.

The Wildcats added fours runs in the sixth on two hits, a walk and two Fridley errors. The Wildcats held the Tigers scoreless in the bottom of the sixth to win by the ten-run rule for the third game in a row. Welle allowed just four hits, no walks and struck out three in five innings to earn the victory. Dan Kaiser pitched a scoreless sixth, striking out two.

Totino Grace 5, CL 4

Trailing 5-1 going into the bottom of the sixth, the Wildcats mounted an inspired comeback in the last two innings. But the comeback fell just short, and the Wildcats fell 5-4 to the Totino Grace Eagles Friday, May 4 at Chisago Lakes. It was the first loss of the season for the Wildcats.

The Eagles got on the board in the first inning. With the wind blowing toward the right field corner, Aaron Hildebrand launched a ball that just cleared the fence in right center for a solo home run and a 1-0 Eagle lead.

The Wildcats tied it in the top of the fifth. Adam Gemuenden tripled into the right field corner. With one out, Mike Welle took the first two pitches for balls. On the next pitch, Gemuenden took off from third. Welle bunted the ball down the first base line and Gemuenden scored easily on the suicide squeeze to tie the game at 1-1.

Hildebrand struck again in the fifth. After the first two batters reached on singles, Hildebrand blasted a 2-0 pitch over the center field fence for a three-run homer to give the Eagles a 4-1 lead. The Eagles added a run in the sixth on a walk, a single, a sacrifice bunt and a two-out wild pitch.

In the bottom of the sixth, Gemuenden struck out swinging to lead off the inning. But the pitch bounced by the catcher, and Gemuenden reached first base on a wild pitch. Jeff Hollister dropped a ball among three fielders in short right field for a single. That put runners on first and second. Bob LeVasseur then drilled a 1-0 pitch to deep right center for a double, scoring Gemuenden and Hollister and making the score 5-3. Eric Reed singled to right center to score LeVasseur and pull the Wildcats to within 5-4. Reed went to second on a wild pitch. Dan Kaiser singled to right. Reed attempted to score from second, but a perfect strike from the right fielder cut him down at the plate for the second out. The next batter struck out to end the inning, keeping the score at 5-4.

It looked like the Wildcats were down for the count after the first two batters struck out in the bottom of the seventh. But with the Wildcats down to their last strike, Adam Gemuenden ripped 2-2 pitch toward the hole on the right side of the infield. The Eagle second baseman dove and knocked the ball down, but the ball trickled through for a single. Hollister ripped a single to right to put runners at first and second with two outs. The next batter grounded out to end the game, leaving the final score Totino Grace 5, Chisago Lakes 4.

"Now that was a fun game," said Wildcat head coach Pat Collins. "The kids need to learn it's not just about wins and losses. We learned a lot about ourselves in this game. The Totino Grace pitcher, Mark Schroeder, is going to be playing Division 1 baseball at Creighton next year, and we got nine hits off of him and had a chance to win it at the end. That's pretty good."

Collins continued, "If the wind wasn't blowing out, maybe we win that game. Of course, the wind was blowing out for us, too, and we didn't take advantage of it. I like to play against [long time Eagle head coach] Ned Thompson's teams. They're well-coached, classy and play aggressively."

The first-place Wildcats (12-1 overall, 8-1 conference) will play three more conference games this week. They were scheduled to host Spring Lake Park on Monday, May 7 and travel to New Hope to face Robbinsdale Cooper on Wednesday, May 9. They'll return home tomorrow night, Friday, May 11, to host Columbia Heights at 4:30 p.m..

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