---

After the heartbreaking loss to Forest Lake that dropped them to the loser's bracket of the Section 7AAA tournament, the Wildcat baseball team came back with a vengeance. Behind some great pitching and a four homer performance by first baseman Jake Warkel, they knocked out second-seeded Duluth East, Anoka and third-seeded Andover to get another shot at Forest Lake last Friday, June 5. But a tired group of Wildcat pitchers walked four batters and hit another as the Rangers scored eight runs in the fourth inning on their way to a 10-5 win over the Wildcats to end the Wildcats' season and advance to the state tournament.

Chisago Lakes 6, Duluth East 0

Quinn Collins allowed just two hits and Jake Warkel hit two home runs as the Wildcats shut out second-seeded Duluth East 6-0 Tuesday, June 2 at Chisago Lakes.

Even though the game was played at Chisago Lakes, Duluth East was considered the home team since they were the higher seed. The Wildcats got right to work in the top of the first inning. Cody Bergquist reached on an error to lead off. Collins sacrificed him to second and Tyler Henderson singled to left to score Bergquist with the first run. Joey Reed beat out an infield single to put runners on first and second. Bryan Eichten then drilled a double to deep left center that hit the wall on one bounce. Courtesy runner Chad Haider scored easily from second and Reed tried to score all the way from first. He and the throw arrived home at the same time. Reed dove headfirst and his hand touched the plate just underneath the catcher's tag to score the run and put the Wildcats up 3-0.

Warkel led off the fourth inning with a long, high fly ball home run to straightaway left field to make the score 4-0. Meanwhile, Collins dominated the Greyhounds. He didn't allow a hit till a one-out double in the fifth inning, baffling the Greyhounds with an assortment of breaking pitches, changeups and well-placed fastballs.

Andy Willhite singled with one out in the top of the seventh. Warkel then launched his second no-doubt home run of the game. This one went right by the top of the light pole in left field, evoking memories of Warkel's home run last summer that actually hit the top of the light pole. Collins allowed a walk and a hit with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but struck out the next batter to finish the Wildcats' impressive 6-0 win.

In addition to allowing just two hits, Collins struck out four and walked four. Warkel had three hits, including the two home runs, and Eichten had two hits.



Chisago Lakes 8, Anoka 5

The Wildcats scored five runs in the fifth inning to break open a close game on their way to an 8-5 win over the Anoka Tornadoes in their second game of the day on Tuesday, June 2 at Chisago Lakes. Jake Warkel used his arm and his bat to help the Wildcats to victory, allowing no earned runs in six strong innings and hitting another long home run and banging two singles off the wall in left field.

The Tornadoes scored an unearned run in the top of the first. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Warkel homered to tie the game at 1-1. Andy Willhite walked and advance to third on Jack Faith's single to right. A balk by the Tornado pitcher allowed Willhite to score to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead.

Anoka picked up another unearned run in the third to tie the game at 2-2. In the bottom of the fourth, Joey Reed led off with a single, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Warkel hit a screaming liner to deep left field. The left fielder raced back and jumped. The ball ticked off his glove and hit the fence. Reed trotted in from third on Warkel's long single to give the Wildcat a 3-2 lead.

The Wildcats poured it on in the fifth. Cody Bergquist ripped a single to left to lead off the inning. Quinn Collins and Tyler Henderson walked to load the bases. Reed then hammered a double down the right field line, driving in two. One out later, Warkel hit another liner that ticked the left fielder's glove and hit the wall, scoring courtesy runner Chad Haider and moving Reed to third. Reed scored on a wild pitch. Courtesy runner Brandon Dawson stole second. One out later, Jack Faith hit a grounder to short. The throw sailed over the first baseman's head, allowing Dawson to score to make it 8-2 in favor of the Wildcats.

Anoka scored two more unearned runs in the top of the sixth to close the gap in to 8-4. In the top of the seventh, the leadoff hitter beat out an infield single. The throw sailed over first baseman Bryan Eichten's head, and the runner made a move toward second. He then thought better of it and headed back to first. But catcher Tyler Henderson was backing up the play, and he threw to Eichten for the tag. The play proved to be pivotal. One out later, the Tornadoes strung together three singles to score one run and had runners on first and second. Relief pitcher Collins struck out the next batter for the third out, finishing off the Wildcat 8-5 win.

Warkel allowed five hits, struck out two and walked four in six innings to pick up the win. Collins allowed one run on three hits with two strikeouts to close out the game for the Wildcats.



Chisago Lakes 13, Andover 4

The Wildcat offense, led by four hits apiece from Jake Warkel and Kyle Buchanan, exploded for 13 runs on 16 hits to beat third-seeded Andover 13-4 last Thursday, June 4 at Andover. The win knocked out the third-seeded Huskies and advanced the Wildcats to a date with Forest Lake for the Section 7AAA championship.

Key hits for the Wildcats included Warkel's two-run homer in the fifth inning. But this wasn't one of Warkel's trademark Harmon Killebrew-type home runs. It was a hard line drive to straightaway left that got over the fence very quickly. Tyler Henderson hit two run singles in the third inning and in the seventh inning, and Buchanan also had a two run single in the seventh. Joey Reed and Jack Faith had two hits apiece. Pitching six innings, Reed allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts in another dominating pitching performance. Zak Vrudny pitched the seventh to close out the Wildcat win.

Forest Lake 11, Chisago Lakes 5

Forest Lake took advantage of a third inning wild streak by the Wildcat pitching staff, scoring eight runs on five hits, four walks and a hit batter. The Wildcats kept pecking away at the big deficit, but finally ran out of innings, losing 11-5 to Forest Lake to finish second in Section 7AAA to the state tournament -bound Rangers. The game was played last Friday, June 5 at Forest Lake.

For the Rangers in the bottom of the third, two walks, a hit batter and two more walks sandwiched around a fielder's choice ground ball scored plated two runs and left the bases loaded with one out. Two singles, a triple and a double drove across six more runs. Travis Ongstad then came in to pitch for the Wildcats and got the last two batters of the inning to fly out, but the damage was already done as Forest Lake led 8-0. Ongstad allowed three runs on three hits in an impressive 3 2/3 inning relief stint for the Wildcats. Ongstad also helped the Wildcats out at the plate. His fourth-inning single scored Joey Reed to get the Wildcats on the scoreboard.

The Wildcats had a chance to get back into the game in the fifth. Cody Bergquist was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Quinn Collins and Tyler Henderson singled to load the bases. Joey Reed's ground ball forced Collins at third, with Bergquist scoring. Jake Warkel singled to re-load the bases, and Chad Haider came in to pinch run for him. Andy Willhite walked to fore in another run and cut the Forest Lake lead to 9-3. Jack Faith's grounder forced Haider at second, but Faith beat the relay throw to first to keep the inning alive and score Reed to cut the lead to 9-4. Ongstad walked to re-load the bases. Kyle Buchanan popped out to end the inning and end the Wildcat threat.

Reed singled to drive in another run in the sixth. They loaded the bases on three walks in the top of the seventh with two outs, but Collins popped out to end the game. The Wildcats watched the Rangers celebrate their first state tournament appearance in seven years.

"We just didn't have enough pitching left," said Wildcat head coach Pat Collins. "When the guys have pitched so many innings, they start to walk people and things start to fall apart. The loser's bracket is tough to get through. Fatigue was apparent for all the players, not just the pitchers. But our kids are never going to quit. You're never out of the game with a bunch of bulldogs like that."

Collins then talked about some of the players who helped the Wildcats to a 4-2 record in the section playoffs. He said "Joey Reed was very dominant on the mound. He had a little trouble with the strike zone early in the season, but his arm strength improved and he got better every game throughout the year. He dominated the North Branch game and the Andover game in the playoffs. Unfortunately, in baseball a pitcher can't pitch every game, so we could only use him for two of our six playoff games."

Collins continues "Jake Warkel was fun to watch. He's a powerful kid with quick hands and it was treat to watch him hit four home runs in three games and hit a couple of other balls off the wall. Kyle Buchanan hit nearly .500 for us in the playoffs after spending the whole season on the JV. He plays this game simply - see the ball, hit the ball. In fact, hit the first one you see. And he uses the whole field. It was pretty impressive. Andy Willhite got some big hits for us in the playoffs and played great in center field for us all year. Quinn Collins did a masterful job against Duluth East, a number two seed with an impressive record. He took a no-hitter into the fifth. He pitched well for us this year. The Lions All-Star Committee thinks so, too, as they've selected him to play in the Lions' All-Star game the weekend of June 19th and 20th.

"And what can you say about Tyler Henderson? During our last game, the Forest Lake coach said to out assistant coach, Jay Brown, 'that kid is a stud.' Tyler has the ability to hit the ball solidly every time he's up. More importantly, he's what every coach wants in a catcher. He's enthusiastic, he plays hard and he always knows what's going on during the game. He's a good leader and when the team is out on the field, the other eight players look to him for guidance. The best thing I can say about him is that he plays the game the right way. He's a lot of fun to have around. And the good news is that Tyler is only a junior this year."

The Wildcats finished the season 16-9 overall, 9-5 (third place) in the conference and 4-2 (second place) in the Section 7AAA playoffs.

---