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In the Tuesday, May 14 matchup at North Branch, the Wildcats and Vikings each scored single runs in the first three innings, and the game was tied 3-3.  The Wildcats kept going, scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, as well.  They added three more in the top of the seventh and limited the Vikings’ rally in the bottom of the seventh to one run, coming away with an 8-4 win.  Ethan Prokosch started and went five innings for the Wildcats to pick up the win.  He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits, walked three and struck out five.  Ben Huth took the loss in relief for the Vikings.  Logan Bjorkman had two triples and two RBIs for the Wildcat and Connor Bleymeyer drove in three runs.  Justin Axberg led the attack for the Vikings, driving in two runs with a double and a home run.

Here’s how the scoring went  In the top of the first, Bjorkman tripled to drive in Sanvik.  In the bottom of the inning, Jordan hit a fly ball to center that was dropped, allowing Clint Mattson to score,  Dylan Tashjian’s sacrifice fly in the top of the second put the Wildcats up 2-1.  In the bottom of the inning, the Justin Axberg double in a run to tie the game at 2-2.  In the third, Bleymeyer singled to drive in Bjorkman for a 3-2 lead.  In the bottom of the third, Jordan Axberg scored on Huth’s groundout and the game was tied 3-3.

After that, it was all Wildcats.  In the fourth, Vangstad scored on a balk.  In the fifth, Bleymeyer blasted a solo home run to make the score 5-3.  In the top of the seventh, Bjorkman tripled to score Barden Wilkinson and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Bleymeyer.  Later in the inning, Seth Thompson singled to drive in Reed Marquardt to make the score 8-3.  Justin Axberg homered to lead off the bottom of the seventh.  Jordan Axberg singled with one out, but reliever Nathan Wasko struck out Cole Palmer and Gavyn Jensen-Schneider – both looking – to end the game.

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