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C.L. 3, Spring Lake Park 1

The Wildcats had just four hits against Spring Lake Park, but managed to score three runs in the second inning. Joey Reed pitched a complete game, allowing just five hits and striking out nine as the Wildcats beat the Panthers 3-1 last Monday, May 5 at Chisago Lakes.

In the Wildcat second, Jake Warkel singled in the Wildcats first run. Quinn Collins got the second run in on a suicide squeeze. The third run scored on a strange balk. The Spring Lake Park coach called time, and the Panther catcher stood up. The pitcher stopped his motion. But the umpire had not granted the time out, so he called a balk on the pitcher for stopping his motion, and the Wildcat runner scored from third to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead.

"Joey pitched great," said Wildcat head coach Pat Collins. "He didn't have a good curve ball or changeup today, but he was able to throw his fastball by them for seven innings."

St. Francis 8, Chisago Lakes 3

The Wildcats lost for just the second time this season as St. Francis scored five runs in the first two innings and cruised to an 8-3 win last Tuesday, May 6 at St. Francis.

"We got down 5-0 early," said Collins. "In the third inning, we got two back and had the bases loaded and two outs. We hit a bloop to the second baseman to end the inning, and that was that. Today, we didn't get the big hit when we needed it. But, you know, the sun doesn't shine on the same dog's rear end every day. St. Francis has a good team, and we've still got a good overall record and a good record in the conference."

Eric Reed had three hits, including a double, for the Wildcats. Andy Willhite chipped in with two hits in the loss.

C.L. 13, Robbinsdale Cooper 2

Senior Andrew Verhey pounded out four hits to lead a 17-hit attack as the Wildcats rolled over Robbinsdale Cooper 13-2 last Wednesday, May 7 at Chisago Lakes. Ryan Rivard allowed just three hits and struck out seven to pick up the complete game victory. The game was shortened to six innings because of the ten-run rule.

Joey Reed had two doubles and drove in two runs for the Wildcats. Eric Reed and Andy Slagle each had three hits. Eric Reed and Ryan Rivard drove in two runs apiece in the Wildcat romp. Ryan Rivard also pitched a complete game, striking out six and allowing just three hits.

"That's as good as I've seen our team hit the ball this year," said Collins. "Thirteen of our hits were absolute missiles. And it was good to see Andrew Verhey do so well in only his second start of the season."

C.L. 15, Columbia Heights 5

The Wildcats scored multiple runs in every inning but the fifth as they crushed the Columbia Heights Hylanders 15-5 last Friday, May 9 at Columbia Heights. The game was shortened to six innings because of the ten-run rule.

The Wildcats had eleven hits, walked six times and were hit by pitches four times. Eric Reed led the attack with three hits and two RBIs. Joey Reed also drove in two runs, and Jack Faith and Andy Slagle had two hits apiece. Slagle, Joey Reed and Aaron Rivard each doubled in the lopsided victory. Jake Warkel allowed just one run and struck out three as he pitched the last three innings to pick up the win in relief of starter Zach Vrudny.

The Wildcats (10-3 overall, 9-3 conference) already lost to the Vikings this past Monday, May 12. They were scheduled to go on the road for three more games this week: at Totino Grace on Tuesday, May 13; at Benilde-St. Margaret's Wednesday, May 14 and tomorrow, Friday, May 16 at Cambridge-Isanti at 7 p.m. They'll play at Mahtomedi next Monday, May 19 at a time yet to be determined.

North Branch 8, C.L. 6

The big rematch between North Branch and Chisago Lakes looked anticlimactic after the Vikings scored seemingly at will in the second inning to take an 8-0 lead. But the Wildcats slowly crept back into the game. But Viking pitcher Dan Ginal and the Viking defense came up with some big outs to preserve the lead, and the Vikings won 8-6 to even the season series with the Wildcats at one game apiece.

In the crucial second inning, the first two batters, Matt Becklin and Casey Doten, reached base on errors by the Wildcat infield. The next batter went out. Since that would have been the third out of the inning, every run scored from that point on was unearned. Matt Bajor walked to load the bases. Drew Lundquist singled through the hole on the left side of the infield to drive in the first two runs of the game. The next batter popped out. With two outs, the Vikings got four straight hits from Ginal, Tony Dahlberg, Becklin and Doten. By the time those hits were mixed in with three more Wildcat errors, the Vikings had put up six more runs (8-0 lead) and chased Wildcat starter Ryan Rivard from the game. Quinn Collins replaced Rivard and shut down the Vikings the rest of the way, as the Wildcats slowly climbed back into the game.

The Wildcats got three runs back in the top of the third. Quinn Collins singled, Andy Willhite walked and Eric Reed reached first on an error to load the bases. Joey Reed singled in two runs, and Eric Reed scored on a passed ball late in the inning to make the score 8-3.

In the fourth, Collins walked, went to second on a passed ball and scored on Eric Reed's two-out single to cut the Viking lead to 8-4. But after hitting Andy Willhite with a pitch, Viking starter Dan Ginal got the next batter to ground out to end the inning.

The Wildcats threatened again in the fifth. Joey Reed singled to lead off the inning. Ryan Rivard singled Reed to third base. Aaron Rivard drove in Reed with a single. The Rivards each moved up a base, so Wildcats were on second and third with no outs. The next Wildcat batter flew out to left fielder Tony Dahlberg. Ryan Rivard tried to score from third, but Dahlberg fired a strike from left field to home plate to nail Ryan Rivard and complete a double play. Aaron Rivard moved up to third. Andrew Verhey walked and stole second. But Ginal struck out the next Wildcat batter to end the inning and snuff out the Wildcats' best chance for a big rally.

In the sixth, Andy Willhite struck out but reached first when the catcher dropped the third strike. Willhite stole second and scored on an RBI single to cut the Viking lead to 8-6. In the seventh, Aaron Rivard led off with a single. Ginal struck out the next hitter and the batter after that grounded out. Ginal then struck out the game's final batter to put the finishing touches on his complete-game win. For the game, Ginal struck out nine Wildcats, including six looking.

"We had our chances," said Wildcat assistant coach Jay Brown. "We just couldn't come up with the big hit when we needed it. Ginal pitched well for the Vikings, and came up with the big strikeouts when he needed them." Wildcat head coach Pat Collins wasn't surprised at the outcome. He has said many times in the past that, no matter what each team's record is, the games are usually close and the teams usually split the two games. And this year was no exception.

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