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CL 10, Robbinsdale Cooper 2

The Wildcats put on another offensive show Monday, April 21, pounding out 12 hits as they routed the Robbinsdale Cooper Hawks 10-2 at home. Ryan Rivard started and picked up the win, allowing just two unearned runs on three hits in five innings. Jorden Pearl and Jake Warkel each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Eric Reed led the hit parade for the Wildcats, going 4-4. Joey Reed, Aaron Rivard and Ryan Rivard had two hits apiece. Ryan Rivard and Andy Slagle each drove in two runs and Slagle had the Wildcats' only extra base hit, a double.

CL 10, St. Louis Park 8

Eric Reed's solo home run to left field on the first pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning broke an 8-8 tie. The Wildcats scored one more run, then shut out St. Louis Park in the top of the seventh to come away with a sloppy 10-8 victory at Chisago Lakes Tuesday, April 22.

The Wildcats outhit the Orioles 13-5 for the game, but six walks by Wildcat pitchers and six errors by the fielders kept it close. The Wildcats were clinging to an 8-6 lead going into the top of the sixth. With Oriole runners on first and second, the Wildcats tried a pickoff play at first base. The ball got away, and two more bad throws later the Orioles had a run in and a man on third.

"I haven't seen three throwing errors on one play in a long time," said Wildcat coach Pat Collins. Less than a minute later, the runner scored on a wild pitch to tie the score at 8-8. With two outs, Quinn Collins came into the game and got the Oriole batter to pop out to end the inning and set the stage for Eric Reed's heroics.

Collins pitched a scoreless seventh, as well, picking up the win in relief of starter Joey Reed and reliever Jorden Pearl. Reed continued his torrid hitting pace. He went four-for-four with a double and five RBIs and leads the Metro with a .688 batting average. That's not a misprint - it's really .688! Ryan Rivard had three hits and Eric Reed doubled, drove in two runs and hit the big home run in the sixth.

"That was big time ugly," said Collins. "We kicked it around and kicked it around and kicked it around some more. Our pitchers pitched better than the score indicated. That was uncharacteristic of the way we usually play in the field. Today we were lucky we're such a good hitting team. I sure like the way our kids hit. And one of the little things that's giving us an edge this year is pickoffs. We never seem to get a kid picked off, but Eric Reed, our catcher, probably averages over a pickoff per game. That really makes a difference over the course of a season."

The Wildcats were scheduled to host their archrivals, the Vikings, Tuesday, April 29 at Chisago Lakes. "That's a big one for us," said Collins. "And we know that the games against North Branch are almost always close." The Wildcats were also scheduled to play Fridley at home Wednesday, April 30. They'll head on the road Friday, May 2 to play at Totino Grace and Monday, May 5 at Spring Lake Park. All games start at 4:30 p.m.

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