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Chisago Lakes 7, North Branch 6
With the Wildcats and Vikings tied 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning of the Section 7AAA opener, Wildcat Dylan Tashjian doubled to drive in Logan Bjorkman with the go-ahead run.  In the bottom of the inning, Viking pinch-hitter Cole Olson lined into a game-ending double play.  The win for the Wildcats sends them to the winner’s bracket in the double elimination tournament, with a home game against Duluth Denfeld tonight at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School.  The loss sends the Vikings to the elimination bracket and a game at Princeton at 7 p.m.

The Vikings burst out of the gates with four runs in the top of the first inning.  J. Richards singled to drive in the first run.  The next run scored on an error.  With two outs, Gavyn Jensen-Schneider doubled in one run.  The final run of the inning scored when Ben Huth reached on an error and the Vikings led 4-0.  The Wildcats got a couple of those runs back in the bottom of the inning.  Connor Bleymeyer singled to drive in one run and another run scored on Mason Molde’s groundout to cut the Viking lead to 4-2.

Viking Mason DeFrance scored on an error in the top of the second to stretch the Viking lead to 5-4.  With the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, Bjorkman hit a two-hopper to Viking shortstop Mattson.  He flipped to second baseman Reese Crowell for one out.  Still in motion, Crowell lobbed the ball to first with no chance to get Bjorkman.  Jacob Vangstad, the runner on second, never hesitated rounding third and made a beeline for the plate.  He dove to the outside of the bag and just beat the tag of catcher Jensen-Schneider.  Two runs scored on the groundout and the Wildcats trailed 5-4.

The Wildcats added two more in the bottom of the third as Zach Mueller drilled a pinch hit double to center to give the Wildcats a 6-5 lead.  The game was now 90 minutes old after just three innings.  In the top of the fourth, Justin Axberg singled to right to score Garrett Anderson to tie the game at 6-6.

The score stayed that way till the bottom of the sixth.  Bjorkman singled with one out, stole second and advanced to third on Bleymeyer’s fly ball to medium deep right center field and scored on Tashjian’s double to give the Wildcats a 7-6 lead.   In the top of the seventh, DeFrance walked and Augie Brown came in to relieve Wildcat starter Ethan Prokosch.  Justin Axberg sacrificed DeFrance to second.  #25 lined the ball to second baseman Tommy Dubbs, whose quick throw to shortstop Vangstad just beat DeFrance to the bag for a game-ending double play.

Prokosch started and went six innings to pick up the win for the Wildcats.  He allowed six runs (three earned) on five hits, walked four and struck out four.  Brown pitched a scoreless seventh for the save.  Jordan Axberg started for the Vikings and gave up the first six Wildcat runs.  Devon Schulte pitched effectively in relief for the Vikings but took the loss.

Chisago Lakes 8, Cambridge-Isanti 5
Trailing 5-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Wildcats scored four runs and went on to beat the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets 8-5 on Tuesday, May 21 at Chisago Lakes High School.  Ryan Sanvik had the big hit in the inning, a two-run single that put the Wildcats ahead 6-5.  Overall, he drove in four runs and pitched six innings to pick up the win.  The Wildcats overcame five errors to earn the victory.

Cambridge scored two runs in each of the first two innings to take a 4-0 lead.  The Wildcats rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Owen Dresel singled to drive in one run.  Augie Brown walked with the bases loaded to force in the second run of the inning.  With two outs, Sanvik lined a single to left to drive in two runs and tied the game at 4-4.

A walk, an error and a single loaded the bases for the Bluejackets in the top of the sixth.  Another walk forced in a run to put Cambridge up 5-4 with one out.  But Sanvik bore down and got the last two batters to limit the damage.  In the bottom of the inning, Dresel walked, Jacob Vangstad was hit by a pitch and Augie Brown singled to load the bases with no outs.  After Tommy Dubbs struck out, Sanvik singled to center to score two and gave the Wildcats the lead.  Logan Bjorkman then doubled to drive in two more and the Wildcats led 8-5.  Connor Bleymeyer relieved starter Ryan Sanvik and struck out two in the bottom of the seventh to pick up the save.  In his six innings of work, Sanvik allowed five runs (one earned) on six hits, walked five and struck out four.
 
Forest Lake 7, Chisago Lakes 3
Making eleven errors is not conducive to winning a ballgame.  In the Wildcats’ regular season finale, the Forest Lake Rangers broke open a close game with four runs in the top of the fifth and went on to beat the error-prone Wildcats 7-3 on Wednesday evening, May 22 at Chisago Lakes High School.  Augie Brown started and went five innings, allowing just one hit.  Three Wildcat relievers finished the last two innings and didn’t allow any hits.  The pitchers walked a combined five batters, and the defense just didn’t show up.

The Rangers scored in the top of the first, but Logan Bjorkman scored on the back end of a double steal in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1.  After Forest lake scored another run in the top of the third to go up 2-1, Mason Molde singled to score Bjorkman in the bottom of the inning and tied the score at 2-2.

Here’s a riddle:  what do two walks, two errors, a hit batter, a sacrifice fly and one hit add up to?  Answer: four runs, which is what the Rangers scored in the top of the fifth to take a 6-2 lead.  Owen Dresel grounded out with the bases loaded to score Bjorkman in the bottom of the inning, but Zach Mueller fouled out to end the threat.  The Rangers added one more in the seventh to make the final score 7-3.  Wildcat pitchers deserved a better result in this one, as only two of the Ranger runs were earned due to the aforementioned eleven errors by a porous Wildcat defense.

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