Wild walk-off win for Wildcats ends Vikes season

Kellen Reed’s walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Danny Kimlinger from second base, giving the Wildcat baseball team a 4-3 win over the Vikings in the opening round of the Section 7AAA playoffs this past Tuesday, May 29 at Chisago Lakes.

The win for the seventh-seeded Wildcats sends them to Forest Lake today to battle the third-seeded Rangers in a section quarterfinal game at 4:30 p.m. The loss for the tenth-seeded Vikings ends their season. Wildcat starting pitcher Dylan Magnuson pitched a complete game, allowing three runs – none of them earned -- on six hits, striking out seven and not walking anybody. Viking starter Kevin Johnson also pitched well. In five-plus innings, he allowed three runs – only one earned – on five hits, walked one and struck out two. Defensively, both teams made critical errors but also made some excellent defensive play that kept their team in the game. The Wildcats got on the board first. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Mitch Berg dropped a single into right field. He went to second on a wild pitch. After Brandon Gorski flew out, Matt Hasselquist hit a seeing-eye single between third and short. Viking left fielder Travis Anderson hit the cutoff near the pitching mound and he turned and threw it accurately to catcher Travis Moreno. Berg arrived at the same time as the throw and scored as the ball bounced towards the Wildcat dugout. Moreno tracked down the ball as Hasselquist took second on the play.

On a full count, Johnson struck out Magnuson looking to end the inning and the Wildcat threat. In the top of the second, Viking Cole Mattson hit a fly ball to the gap in medium-deep right center. The ball plopped into the soggy outfield between the Wildcat outfielders and Mattson hustled to second for a double. One out later, Mattson moved to third on Kerry Konrad’s groundout to second. With two outs, Dylan Kraemer hit a slow grounder towards the hole between third and short. Wildcat third baseman Berg booted the ball, chased it a few steps towards second, picked it up, spun and threw the ball wildly to first. Mattson scored to tie the game at 1-1 and Kraemer made it to second. But Travis Moreno grounded to first, ending the Viking threat. In the bottom of the inning, Wildcat Miles Turk singled with one out. On the first pitch to Berg, the next batter, Turk took off on a hit and run. Berg flew out to right and Mattson’s throw easily doubled off Turk to end the inning. Johnson led off the top of the third with a single to right. Courtesy runner Jordan Franklin tried to steal second, but was cut down by a perfect throw from catcher Hasselquist. Magnuson struck out Anderson and Jake Pilz to end the inning. Brett Klun hit a dribbler down the third base line to open the Viking fourth and beat it out for an infield single.

He went to second when Mattson drilled a single to left. Tom Kinsella reached on a fielder’s choice as his ground ball to short forced Klun at third, leaving runners on first and second. Mattson and Kinsella each moved up a base on a wild pitch, so the Wildcats pulled the infield in. The move paid off as Konrad hit a grounder straight at Wildcat shortstop Jake Sandgren. Sandgren gobbled up the ball, checked the runners and threw to first for the second out. Kraemer stepped up to the plate. He grounded a 1-2 pitch to Sandgren at short. Sandgren’s throw to first was high. Wildcat first baseman Reed leaped to make the catch and tried to tag Kraemer running by, but the umpire ruled that Reed missed the tag. Kraemer reached on the error and Mattson scored to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead. Moreno lined a single to right to score Kinsella with the second run of the inning. Kraemer tried to go from first to third on the play, but right fielder Gorski unleashed a perfect throw to Berg at third base to cut down Kraemer and end the inning, keeping the Viking lead at 3-1. In the bottom of the fifth, Kimlinger led off with a walk. Sandgren popped a bunt down the first base line. Johnson fielded it about 15 feet from the bag, but his flip to first was wild, allowing Kimlinger to race all the way to third.

After Reed flew out, Turk hit a fly ball to short right field. Kimlinger tagged up and headed for home. Mattson sailed a high throw from right. Viking catcher Moreno ran about 15 feet up the third baseline and leaped to catch the ball. Kimlinger dove behind Moreno to try to avoid the tag, but Moreno spun left and tagged Kimlinger for the out, ending the inning. Johnson’s defense let him down in the bottom of the fifth inning. Berg hit a slow grounder to second. First baseman Kraemer had to leap to catch second baseman Cody Knobbe’s throw and the umpire ruled Berg crossed the bag before Kraemer’s foot came back down. Gorski stepped to the plate and hit a grounder just to the right of second base. Knobbe’s throw to first sailed past Kraemer for the second error of the inning, and the runners moved up to second and third. Jared Axberg relived Johnson and Mattson moved from right to second. Axberg got Hasselquist to pop to short. Joe Davis, pinch hitting for Magnuson, grounded out to second on the first pitch he saw. Berg scored on the play to cut the Viking lead to 3-2. Blake Jorgenson relieved Axberg. With a 1-2 count on Wildcat designated hitter Louis Kastenbauer, Jorgenson uncorked a pitched that sailed about three feet outside and went all the way to the backstop. Gorski slid home with the second run of the inning, tying the score at 3-3. Kastenbauer eventually struck out, but the damage was done. Johnson, now playing right field for the Vikings, singled with two outs in the top of the seventh.

Anderson hit a ground ball between first and second, just past diving first baseman Kellen Reed. Second baseman Turk fielded it in short right field and rifled a throw to Magnuson covering to nip Anderson by half a step for the third out. In the bottom of the inning, Jorgenson quickly got ahead of leadoff batter Kimlinger 0-2. On the next pitch, Kimlinger stuck out his bat and lined the ball over second baseman Mattson’s head. Sandgren sacrificed Kimlinger to second. Reed then lined a single to right center. The speedy Kimlinger scored easily on the play and the Wildcats had a 4-3 win. “That’s a nice win, and we’ll take it,” said Wildcat head coach Pat Collins. “Dylan did a nice job out there on the mound. He kept the ball down, and when you do that good things happen. Kellen came through with a big hit at the end. Now we get to keep the season going. We are looking forward to playing Forest Lake.” If the Wildcats beat Forest Lake today, they will move on to the Section 7AAA double-elimination Final Four. The games will be played this Saturday at Chisago Lakes and Forest Lake, with opponents, times and exact locations to be determined. Check out mshsl.org or Minnesota-scores.net for scores and scheduling updates.