CL earns second seed in sections, just behind SF

St. Francis 6, Chisago Lakes 2
St. Francis scored three times in the bottom of the sixth inning to give themselves some breathing room and went on to beat the Wildcats 6-2 Tuesday, May 20 at St. Francis. Wildcat outfielder Mark Sontag homered for the fifth time this season, temporarily tying Matt Hasselquist for the team lead. Michael Dunne started off a little wild in the bottom of the first inning as the Fighting Saints took advantage of three walks and two singles to go up 2-0.

The wildness continued in the second, with two walks and a single leading to another St. Francis run. Sontag’s solo blast to left leading off the top of the fourth inning cut the Fighting Saint lead to 3-1. But three singles, a steal of home and two sacrifice flies led to three runs in the bottom of the sixth for St. Francis, stretching their lead to 6-1. Louis Kastenbauer walked to lead off the top of the seventh for the Wildcats. One out later, Joe Kimlinger was hit by a pitch. Matt Hasselquist singled to center to score Kastenbauer. But Kellen Reed struck out and Sontag flied out to center to end the Wildcat rally and the game.

Chisago Lakes 7, Big Lake 4
As they have for much of the season, balls were flying out of the Chisago Lakes High School varsity baseball field last Wednesday, May 21. Kellen Reed hit a three run homer in the bottom of the third and Matt Hasselquist followed it with a two run shot in the bottom of the fifth to lead the Wildcats to a 7-4 win over Big Lake. The Hornets scored a run in the top of the third inning to go up 1-0. In the bottom of the inning, Sam Birkholz walked and stole second. One out later, he advanced to third on Joe Kimlinger’s groundout. With two outs, Matt Hasselquist was hit by a pitch. Kyle Grave came in as a courtesy runner for Hasselquist and promptly stole second. Reed then hammered an 0-2 pitch over the fence in center to put the Wildcats up 3-1. Big Lake scored in the top of the fourth to cut the Wildcat lead to 3-2. But the Wildcats answered with two more runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Mitch Berg singled and Louis Kastenbauer doubled to put runners on second and third. Birkholz struck out.

Both runners scored on an error by the Hornet third baseman and the Wildcats now led 5-2. Kimlinger led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to left. Hasselquist then homered to left for his sixth home run of the season, scoring Kimlinger and stretching the Wildcat lead to 7-2. Big Lake added a run in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-3. The Hornets made the Wildcat faithful a little nervous in the top of the seventh as a walk and two singles cut the Wildcat lead to 7-4 with no outs. But Tyler Smith came in to relieve Michael Dunne and struck out the next batter on a 3-2 pitch. Smith got the next two batters to pop out, ending the Big Lake rally, sealing the win for the Wildcats and picking up a save. Colton Mueller pitched the first six innings to pick up the win for the Wildcats. He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits, walked two and struck out eight.

Chisago Lakes 5, Princeton 4
In their final regular season game of the 2014 season, the Wildcats spotted the Princeton Tigers four runs in the bottom of the first inning. But they fought back and eventually Mitch Berg scored the go ahead run on a bases-loaded groundout by Joe Kimlinger in the top of the seventh inning. Louis Kastenbauer and the Wildcat defense shut down the Tigers in the bottom of the seventh and the Wildcats went headed into the playoffs with an exciting 5-4 win over Princeton. The game was played at Princeton on Thursday, May 22. A walk, an error and a single loaded the bases for the Tigers in the bottom of the first. Another single drove in the first run of the game and the bases were still loaded. But the next batter grounded into a double play started by shortstop Will Gillach.

A run scored on the play to double the Tiger lead to 2-0. Princeton followed with a single and a double to drive in two more runs and led 4-0 after one. In the top of the fourth, Gabe Gustafson and Mark Sontag singled to put runners on first and second with no outs. Berg’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners up a base. Noah Taylor doubled to right, scoring both runners. Louis Kastenbauer reached on an error by the second baseman and Taylor scored on the play to cut the Tiger lead to 4-3. Kimlinger and Will Gillach walked to load the bases with one out and the Wildcats appeared poised to take the lead. But Hasselquist struck out for the second out, Kellen Reed lined out to center to end the inning and the Wildcats still trailed by one. Gustafson walked to lead off the top of the seventh and Kyle Graeve came in to run for him. One out later, Graeve stole second. But he was injured on the play and was replaced by Michael Dunne.

Berg was hit by a pitch and Taylor single to load the bases with one out. Kastenbauer laid down a bunt and Dunne beat the throw home to tie the game at 4-4. Kimlinger then grounded to the pitcher to score Berg and put the Wildcats up 5-4. Gillach popped out to end the inning. In the bottom of the seventh, the first Tiger batter reached on an error. Kastenbauer struck out the next batter on three pitches. The Tigers tried to steal second on the next play, but catcher Matt Hasselquist gunned him down for the second out of the inning. The final batter of the game fouled out to Mark Sontag down the left field line to end the game. After allowing four runs, just one of them earned, in the bottom of the first, starting pitcher Hasselquist settled down and allowed one hit and one walk over the next three innings. He struck out four. Kastenbauer pitched the last three innings of the game, allowing no hits, walking none and striking out two to pick up the win.

Section Preview
The second-seeded Wildcats (14-4 overall, 10-3 conference) finished second in the Mississippi 8 Conference, a game behind St. Francis. The Wildcats will host seventh-seeded Grand Rapids tonight at Chisago Lakes High School at 7 p.m. in the first game of the eight-team double elimination round in the Section 7AAA playoffs. The Wildcats will then play one or two games on Saturday, May 31, depending on a number of circumstances. If the Wildcats make it through Saturday with a 2-0 or 2-1 record, they will advance to the section 7AAA Final Four, to be held June 3 and 4 at Andover and Anoka.

You will be able to find updates on game times at mshsl.org or Minnesota-scores.net. St. Francis received the top seed in Section 7AAA. They split with the Wildcats this season, but were 10-1 in section play versus the Wildcats’ 7-2 record in the section. (#3) Elk River (#3), Duluth East (#4) and Anoka (#5) round out the top five seeds. Perennial state tournament entry Forest Lake (12-9 overall) had a down year and was seeded sixth. Despite the low seed, Forest Lake should never be counted out.

Collins also announced his resignation as head coach last week, effective at the end of the season. He has been the head coach for the last 16 years, and it is his second stint at the helm. “Pat has always been dedicated to his young men and to the game of baseball,” Chisago Lakes Activities Director Neil Fletcher said. “Congratulations to Pat on a great career as head baseball coach at CLHS.”