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Chisago Lakes 8, Benilde-St. Margaret's 7

The Wildcats fell behind Benilde-St. Margaret's 5-0 after three innings in the season opener. But, they came back with eight runs in their last three at bats to beat the Red Knights 8-7 Tuesday, April 15 at Chisago Lakes. The Red Knight pitchers contributed to the Wildcat comeback by walking 11 batters.

Quinn Collins relieved starter Jake Warkel in the third inning and held the Red Knights to just two runs over the final 4 1/3 innings. Warkel, Andy Willhite and Tyler Henderson each drove in two runs for the Wildcats. Willhite had the Wildcats' only extra base hit, a double, and Warkel had two hits.

LINE SCORE

Benilde 2 0 3 0 2 0 0-7

C.L. 0 0 0 3 4 1 x-8

CL-Warkel, Collins (3) and E. Reed. 2B-Willhite. RBI-Willhite 2, R. Rivard, Warkel 2, Jones, Henderson 2

C.L. 10, Columbia Heights 0

The Wildcats jumped off to a 5-0 lead in the first inning and cruised to a 10-0 victory over Columbia Heights Wednesday, April 16 at Columbia Heights. Joey Reed, Zak Vrudny and Ryan Rivard combined to strike out nine batters in the game, which was shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule. Reed earned his first win as a varsity pitcher.

Andy Slagle and Jake Warkel hit the Wildcats' first two home runs of the season. Warkel was 2-for-2 with three RBIs and Andy Willhite went 3-for-3 with two doubles to lead the Wildcats.

LINE SCORE

C.L. 5 1 1 1 2-10

Col. Heights 0 0 0 0 0- 0

CL-J. Reed, Vrudny (4), R. Rivard and E. Reed. HR-Slagle, Warkel 2B-Willhite 2. RBI-Willhite, R. Rivard, Slagle, Warkel 3, E. Reed. SB-J. Reed

Irondale 8, Chisago Lakes 4

The Wildcats had the tables turned on them as Irondale scored four runs in the first inning. Chisago Lakes never got closer than three runs after that, losing 8-4 Thursday, April 17 at Irondale. Starting pitcher Ryan Rivard was knocked out in the first inning, and reliever Quinn Collins pitched the final 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) while striking out seven and walking four. The Wildcat defense kicked the ball around, committing five errors.

Collins led the Wildcats with two hits, and Joey Reed had the Wildcats' only extra-base hit, a double.

LINE SCORE

C.L. 0 2 1 1 0 0 0-4

Irondale 4 2 0 1 1 0 x-8

CL-R. Rivard, Collins (1) and E. Reed. 2B-J. Reed. RBI-J. Reed, A. Rivard, Henderson.

C.L. 11, Duluth Central 1

The Wildcats rebounded quickly from their loss to Irondale, pounding out six doubles on their way to an 11-1 win over Duluth Central Saturday, April 19 at Chisago Lakes. When the Wildcats scored their 11th run in the bottom of the sixth, the game was ended because of the 10-run rule.

Zak Vrudny started and pitched four innings, allowing just one earned run to claim his first varsity victory. Joey Reed and Ryan Rivard each pitched a scoreless inning of relief and they also drove in three runs apiece for the Wildcats. Joey Reed led the Wildcats with three hits, and Aaron Rivard, Jake Warkel and Eric Reed had two hits apiece.

LINE SCORE

Duluth Central 0 0 1 0 0 0- 1

Chisago Lakes 1 0 2 5 2 1-11

CL-Vrudny, J. Reed (5) and R. Rivard (6). 2B-J. Reed, Willhite, R. Rivard, A. Rivard, Pearl, E. Reed. RBI-J. Reed 3, Willhite, R. Rivard 3, A. Rivard, Pearl, Warkel.

Wildcat head coach Pat Collins is obviously pleased with his team's start. He attributed it to a talented group of players. Collins said,"Our assistant coach, Jay Brown, was helping out a friend at the Edina American Legion baseball tryouts the other day. Jay told me that what amazed him was that only one player at those tryouts that could crack our starting lineup.

"Our fast start doesn't surprise me. We've got some good seniors coming back, including Aaron and Ryan Rivard, Andy Slagle and Eric Reed, our catcher. Eric is even batter than he was last year - he picked off four runners against Duluth Central last Saturday. Taylor Jones has filled in nicely at third base for us, and Joey Reed recovered quickly from his injury and is hitting the ball very well.

"And we've got a nice mix of juniors and sophomores who are all contributing. I've coached a lot of these kids for five or six years in traveling ball, so maybe we're on the same wavelength," Collins added.

The Wildcats (3-1 overall, 2-1 conference) played four games last week while trying to make up for time lost due to the weather. And the schedule doesn't let up, with seven games, including six home conference games, over a 10-day period: Monday, April 21 vs. Cooper at home; Tuesday, April 22 vs. St. Louis Park at home; Thursday, April 24 (today) vs. St. Francis at home, 4:30; Friday, April 25 at Osceola, 5:00; Saturday, April 26 vs. Hermantown at home, 1:00; Tuesday, April 29 vs. archrival North Branch at home, 4:30; and Wednesday, April 30 vs. Fridley at home, 4:30. The Wildcat regular season will be more than half over by the time they play Fridley April 30.

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