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Totino Grace 8, Chisago Lakes 7

The Wildcats blew an early six-run lead against Totino Grace, losing to the Eagles 8-7 Tuesday, May 13 at Totino Grace in Fridley. The game was the first of three straight, one-run, road decisions for the Wildcats, making things almost a little too exciting for the Wildcats and their fans.

Andy Slagle led off the bottom of the first with his team-leading third home run of the season to put the Wildcats up 1-0. Andy Willhite followed with a walk, and Eric Reed singled. The runners moved up to second and third. With one out, Ryan Rivard singled to left center to drive in Willhite and Reed to put the Wildcats up 3-0.

The Eagles got one run back in the bottom of the first, but the Wildcats answered in a big way. Quinn Collins walked, Slagle singled and Willhite singled to load the bases with no outs. Eric Reed singled to left to drive in two runs. Joey Reed singled to once again load the bases with no outs. Ryan Rivard hit a ground ball to third base and Willhite was forced out at home to leave the bases loaded with one out. Aaron Rivard singled to drive in two more, and the Wildcats led 7-1 after the top of the second.

The Wildcats seemed to be in command as they led 7-3 entering the fifth inning. But trouble started with the bases empty and two outs. Eagle batter Dan Delisle hit a solo home run to cut the Wildcat lead to 7-4. A double and a triple led to another Eagle run. After starter Joey Reed walked the next hitter, Collins entered the game to try to close the door on the Eagle rally. It looked like Collins had shut the door on the Eagles when the Eagle hitter hit a ground ball toward a Wildcat infielder. The Wildcat infielder made an error, allowing one run to score and leaving runners at first and second. The next batter singled in a run to tie the game at 7-7. A hit batter loaded the bases, but the next batter grounded out to end the inning.

The score was tied 7-7 entering the bottom of the seventh, and the Wildcats were again let down by their defense. With one out, an Eagle batter was hit by a pitch. But an error by the Wildcat infield allowed the next runner to reach base. A walk loaded the bases. It seemed fitting that the Wildcat infield made yet another error, allowing the winning run to score and sending the Wildcats down in a crushing 8-7 loss.

Chisago Lakes 5, Benilde-St. Margaret's 4 (8 innings)

The Wildcats bounced right back with an exciting win of their own the next day. Jake Warkel singled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the top of the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie. Joey Reed shut down Benilde-St Margaret's in the bottom of the eighth to give the Wildcats a 5-4 win over the Red Knights Wednesday, May 14 in St. Louis Park.

The lead see-sawed back and forth all day. The Red Knights drew first blood with a run in the bottom of the second. In the top of the third, Andy Willhite led off with a walk. Jack Faith singled, and Andrew Verhey walked to load the bases with no outs. Andy Slagle grounded into a fielder's choice at second to drive in one run. Aaron Rivard grounded out to score the second run and give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead.

The Red Knights re-took the lead in style in the bottom of the third. With one out, Benilde hit two straight solo home runs to go up 3-2. But Joey Reed doubled to lead off the top of the fourth. Ryan Rivard singled to move Reed to third, and Reed scored on Tyler Henderson's groundout to tie the game at 3-3.

In the bottom of the fourth, a Wildcat error, a single and two walks led to one Benilde run and left the bases loaded with two outs. Joey Reed relieved starter Ryan Rivard and got the next batter to ground out to Reed on the first pitch, ending the Red Knight threat and keeping the Wildcats within one run. In the sixth, Eric Reed led off with a single for the Wildcats and eventually came around to tie the game at 4-4. Joey Reed set down the Red Knights 1-2-3 in both the sixth and seventh innings, and the game went into extra innings.

Eric Reed doubled to lead off the eighth. After the next two batters went out, Jake Warkel came through with a clutch single to score Reed and put the Wildcats up 5-4. Joey Reed allowed a single to the first Red Knight batter in the bottom of the eighth, but got the next three hitters to complete an impressive four-and-a-third inning relief performance and give the Wildcats a great come-from-behind win.

Cambridge-Isanti 5, Chisago Lakes 4 (9 innings)

The Wildcats' game against Cambridge-Isanti featured great pitching performances, clutch hitting and a big defensive play. In the bottom of the seventh, right fielder Aaron Rivard's beautiful throw to the plate nailed a Cambridge runner trying to score from third on a fly ball, to keep the score at 4-4 and sent the game into extra innings. But the Bluejackets led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run to left field to give Cambridge a 5-4 win last Friday, May 16 at Cambridge.

Andy Slagle led off the game with a single and, two outs later, had moved to third. Joey Reed was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and third. Ryan Rivard lined a sharp single to right center to drive in Reed. Aaron Rivard followed with another line drive single to score Slagle and put the Wildcats up 2-0. Jake Warkel led off the Wildcat second with a single and went to second on Quinn Collin's sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Willhite hit a popup down the first base line into short right field. The ball dropped between three onrushing Bluejacket fielders and just inside the line to score Warkel and put the Wildcats up 3-0. Cambridge got one back in the bottom of the third; but Jake Warkel answered with a long solo home run to left field, in the top of the fourth, to put the Wildcats up 4-1.

Cambridge rallied in the bottom of the fourth. The first two batters singled to put runners at the corners with no outs. The next batter hit a fly ball to deep left center. Center fielder Andy Willhite and left fielder Ryan Rivard raced for the ball. They smashed into each other as the ball fell in for a hit. Both players were okay, but by the time the dust had cleared a run was in and there were runners on second and third. The next batter walked to load the bases. Another run scored on a wild pitch to pull the Bluejackets within one. The next batter fouled out to third baseman Joey Reed. Collins came in to relieve starter Warkel with runners on second and third and one out and once again bailed the Wildcats out of a jam. He got the first batter on a popup to Reed and struck out the last batter of the inning to preserve the one-run lead.

The Bluejackets rallied in the bottom of the seventh. The first batter walked on four pitches and was forced at second on a fielder's choice. A single up the middle and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out. A walk tied the game at 4-4 and left the bases loaded. The next batter hit a fly ball to right field that looked deep enough to score the winning run from third. Aaron Rivard timed the play well. He circled behind the ball, caught it in stride, planted and unleashed a rocket toward home. The ball skipped just before getting to the plate. Wildcat catcher Eric Reed had the plate blocked perfectly and caught Rivard's throw on the short hop as the Bluejacket runner from third slid right into Reed's glove for the third out, sending the game into extra innings.

Collins had yet another impressive long relief performance as he held the Bluejackets to just two runs on two hit with five strikeouts in four-and-two-thirds innings against an good-hitting Cambridge lineup. Bluejacket starter Joe Ramberg was even more impressive. He had struck out seven Wildcats through the first four innings of the game, but he was just warming up. The big lefty struck out 11 Wildcats in the fifth through eight innings - he was virtually unhittable. With the exception of Andy Willhite, who struck out just once, and an unfortunate Wildcat batter who struck out four times, every Wildcat hitter struck out exactly twice during the game. A Cambridge fan remarked that this was a typical Ramberg performance. Ramberg's quick delivery and blazing fastball kept the Wildcats off balance, and he finished with 19 strikeouts for the evening.

But Ramberg tired in the top of the ninth, and the Wildcats nearly took advantage of it. Andrew Verhey was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Warkel struck out. Verhey tried to steal second. He dove to beat the tag, but his hand came off the base. He was tagged out to leave the bases empty with two outs. Collins singled hard to right center and Slagle walked. But Andy Willhite grounded into a fielder's choice to end the Wildcat threat.

The Bluejackets' first batter in the bottom of the ninth hit a wicked line drive to straightaway left that never got more than 10 feet off the ground. Left fielder Ryan Rivard raced back to get the ball, but it banged off of something and bounded back into the field. The umpires got together to discuss and decided (correctly, as it later turned out) that the ball had bounced off the trunk of a tree growing just a couple of feet beyond the outfield fence. The home run gave the Bluejackets a 5-4 win in one of the most exciting high school baseball games ever.

Upcoming

The Wildcats (11-5 overall, 10-4 conference) will finish off a second straight successful regular season with a couple of non-conference games this week. They were scheduled to play at Mahtomedi on Monday, then return home to face local rival Forest Lake tonight, Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School. Their first section playoff game will likely be Saturday, May 31 at Grand Rapids.

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