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Benilde-St. Margaret's 14, North Branch 3

With a perfect record and tow, and a ton of confidence to boot, the North Branch baseball team hosted the always-powerful Benilde-St. Margaret's with a good shot at taking down the Red Knights.

That, of course, was until the fourth inning of their North Suburban Conference game.

The Red Knights struck first in the game, scoring a run in the opening frame to take a 1-0 lead, but senior pitcher Eric Berggren shut them down for the next three innings. While he was mowing down Red Knight batters, the Viking offense struggled to string anything together. Whenever someone would reach base, BSM's pitcher would buckle down and get the third out.

With the game still close at 1-0 in the fourth inning, the Red Knights strung together their big inning off of Berggren. They opened the floodgates with doubles, moving around the base paths with ease.

By the end of the fourth, they had scored five runs to extend their lead to 6-0. In the bottom half of the inning, the Vikings failed to respond to Benilde's rally, and the rout was on.

In the fifth inning, the Red Knights tacked on two more runs to make it an 8-0 deficit for the Vikings.

North Branch showed a little life in the bottom of the fifth, but it was more Benilde shooting themselves in the foot than anything.

Matt Lutgen reached on a single, followed by a Tyler Ball walk. Dan Schoess drove Lutgen in with his only hit of the night, and earned the only RBI credited to the Vikings. Subsequent errors by the Red Knights plated Ball and Schoess to chop the lead down to 8-3.

The Red Knights squashed any hope of a comeback with a six-run sixth inning to extend the lead to 14-3. When North Branch wasn't able to answer back in the bottom half of the inning with more than one run, the game was called due to the 10-run mercy rule.

"We just had a tough time getting out of the gates," Head Coach Steve Christensen said. "This game was close until the fourth, but we still left guys on base. We had some opportunities, but we weren't able to take advantage of them."

Lutgen went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run, and Schoess went 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Berggren took the loss, going four innings an allowing eight hits and six runs, five of them earned. Lutgen and Ball both pitched in relief of Berggren.

St. Louis Park 6, North Branch 5 (12 inn.)

The Vikings got their first taste extra-inning suspense against St. Louis Park.

Although they didn't come out on top, the dogfight will toughen the red-clad troops for the length of the season.

Both teams went down without much resisitence in the first inning, but North Branch struck first in the top of the second inning. Kyle Grote, who was the starter in the game, helped his own cause by driving in Drew Lundquist with a double. The big hit gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead.

Grote, however, surrendered the lead in the bottom half of the second inning, giving up three runs to the Orioles. Not to be outdone, the Vikings struck back with three of their own runs in the top of the third to retake the lead at 4-3.

Grote was able to keep St. Louis Park under wraps in the bottom of the third, and North Branch added an insurance run in the top of the fourth for a 5-3 lead.

The Orioles used the homefield advantage and a key rally to chalk up two more runs, though, in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game up at 5-5. Matt Becklin then entered to pitch for Grote, and he was masterful.

The teams traded zeros for the next three innings to leave them no choice but extra innings. With two tough pitchers in, everyone in attendance knew the game could go a while. "This was a great game. The nervous energy fed into a great atmosphere at the ball park," Christensen said.

Neither team could solve the other's pitcher, and it led to four more innings of zeros on the scoreboard. "We had opportunities to score in the late innings," Christensen explained. "But, three balls that were hit caromed off of Oriole pitcher to the defenders to spoil our hard hits."

The Vikings put up another zero in the top of 12th inning, and that's when St. Louis Park took action. Phil Gauthier led off for the Orioles with a single and proceeded to steal second base. Becklin coaxed two harmless groundballs to shortstop Ball and it looked as if the Vikings might live to the 13th inning, but Derrick Keller squeezed a ball just in between Ball and Sean Graff at third for an infield hit. Gauthier, who had moved up to third on the second groundout, sprinted home to send the Vikings back up north with a demoralizing loss.

Berggren was the offensive star, going 3-for-6 with two RBIs. Graff, Lutgen and Lundquist each had two hits apiece. Lutgen added two walks, Lundquist had two runs and an RBI to go along with his pair of hits.

Grote started the game, going four innings and allowing five runs on six hits. Becklin got the tough-luck loss, going the last 7 2/3 innings, allowing only six hits and the one run in the 12th inning. He struck out six Orioles in relief.

Duluth East 7, North Branch 0

In the first half of a Saturday double header, the Vikings ran into a pitcher that just couldn't miss.

Adam Zwak of Duluth East hit all of his spots and mixed speeds effectively against the North Branch. It resulted in a lot of strikeouts and very little contact for the Vikes.

The Greyhounds enjoyed a 4-0 lead by the fifth inning, and it was already evident that Zwak was on point and cruising by that time. "East is a very tough team, and [Zwak] was all around the plate and had some good off-speed pitches to go with his fastball," Christensen noted. "We just couldn't seem to get our hitting on track for the game."

Schoess and Graff were the only Vikings to get hits off of Zwak. Schoess also added two walks. Berggren and Lutgen teamed for the seven innings, combining to allow 10 hits and seven runs.

North Branch 7, Duluth Denfeld 6

One big inning can make a big difference in a game, and the Vikings found that out against the Hunters in the second half of their double-header.

After Denfeld scored a run in the top of the first to open up the game, the Vikings answered in the bottom of the opening inning. Graff earned a walk as the leadoff hitter, and Schoess moved him up with a hit from the second spot. Becklin, showing his defensive versatility by playing shortstop because Ball was pitching, drove Schoess and Graff in with a single to put the Vikings up 2-1 after the first inning.

Denfeld scored two of their own in the top of the second to retake the lead at 3-2. The score remained the same for the next couple innings until the North Branch bats got hot in the fourth inning.

Lane Noyes had already come home on a Schoess hit, and Ball, Graff and Schoess packed the bases for second baseman Joe Johnson. Johnson responded with a bases-clearing double for three runs. Lundquist followed with a single to plate Johnson, and the five-running inning put the Vikings up 7-3.

Denfeld tacked on two runs in the top of the fifth to bring the lead back down to only two for the Vikings, but Lutgen had relieved Ball by then and stopped the bleeding. He then shut down Denfeld in the sixth inning, and gave up one run in the top of the seventh, but got out of the inning to earn the save.

"Denfeld never gave up, but luckily we were on top and were able to hold the lead," Christensen said.

Schoess was the catalyst for the offense, going 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. Johnson only had the one double, but it drove in three of the Vikings' seven runs. Lundquist and Becklin picked up the other RBIs.

Ball got the win, going 4 1/3 innings with three strikeouts. He gave upfour hits and five runs, four of them earned. Lutgen pitched the eight out save.

The win salvaged a week that began with a three game losing streak and kept the Vikings above .500 on the season. Their mark so far is 4-3, with a 3-2 record in the North Suburban.

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