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Chisago Lakes 4, Princeton 3
The Wildcats took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and shut down rallies in the sixth and seventh innings to squeak by Princeton 4-3 on Tuesday, April 14 at Chisago Lakes.  Mike Dunne drove in two of the four Wildcat runs as the Wildcats won their third straight game to start the season.

Will Gillach walked to lead off the bottom of the first inning and Anders Brown followed with a single that moved Gillach to third.  One out later, Noah Taylor singled to score Gillach and the Wildcats led 1-0.  Taylor stole second to put runners on second and third.  Dunne singled to right to drive in both runners and the Wildcats led 3-0.

Tyler Stilp walked the Tiger leadoff batter in the top of the sixth inning, but he was caught stealing.  After Stilp walked the next batter, Dunne was brought in to relieve Stilp.  Dunne walked the first batter he faced and the next batter reached on an error to load the bases.  The next batter grounded to third, driving in one run and moving the other runners up to second and third.  But Dunne struck out the next batter on three pitches to stop the rally and the Wildcats led 3-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, Dunne led off with a single and was replaced on the basepaths by courtesy runner Gabe Taylor.  One out later, Joe Kimlinger’s groundout to the second baseman moved Taylor to second.  Dan Streitz lined a double to center, scoring Taylor to put the Wildcats up 4-1.

In the top of the seventh, Brown came in to relieve Dunne with one out and walked the first batter he faced.  The next batter flew to center for the second out.  A single and a misplay by the Wildcats put runners on second and third.  Another single drove in two runs and cut the Wildcat lead to 4-3.  Brown walked the next batter and hit the one after that to load the bases.  But the next Tiger batter swung at the first pitch and flew out to center to end the game.

Streitz, Noah Taylor, Dunne and Brown had two hits apiece for the Wildcats.  Wildcats pitchers allowed just five hits, but walked seven and struck out four.
 
St. Francis 12, Chisago Lakes 2 (6 innings)
The Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season at St. Francis last Thursday, April 16.  The Fighting Saints scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to go up 12-2 and end the game by the ten run rule.

Five Wildcat pitchers gave up just ten hits but walked 14 St. Francis batters.  With that many baserunners, the Fighting Saints were bound to score a lot of runs.  Tyler Stilp had the only RBI for the Wildcats, who managed just four hits – and only one Wildcat batter was walked.

The Wildcats (3-1) play four games in the next six days.  They’ll play at St. Michael-Albertville tonight.  Tomorrow, they will welcome Buffalo to Chisago Lakes High School.  On Monday, April 27 they will host the North Branch Vikings in a game that was postponed from earlier this week due to weather.  And next Tuesday, April 28 they will head to Big Lake to take on the Hornets.  All four games will start at 4:30 p.m.

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