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The Chisago Lakes Bulldogs town team is 5-3 in the Eastern Minny League Central Division and 5-7 overall this season.  The Bulldogs, historically a competitive team with decent pitching and low run production that didn’t win a lot of games, added players that have improved both their pitching and hitting.  Their run production is second in the 14-team Eastern Minny League so far this season, and their pitching in league games has been very good.  The toughest part of the schedule is coming up over the next few weeks, and the Bulldogs seem to be up to the challenge.

Early Season Games

The Bulldogs opened the season with a 13-7 loss to the Quamba Cubs at Pat Collins Field on May 20.  On Sunday, June 4, they hosted a doubleheader with the Eastern Minny League’s newest team, the Ham Lake Hornets.  Ham Lake has struggled to gain traction in their first season. The Bulldogs swept the Hornets 17-2 and 22-0, with both games being shortened to five innings because of the “15 runs after five innings” rule.

The Bulldogs lost 4-3 to a tough Princeton Panthers team on Friday, June 9 in Osceola.  With two on and two outs in the top of the eighth and the game tied 2-2, a Princeton batter hit a fly ball to deep center field that was playable for center fielder Nate Zingerman.  But Zingerman lost the ball in the lights, and it landed 20 feet behind him.  Two runs scored to give the Panthers a 4-2 lead.  After the Bulldogs went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, Bulldog reliever Bailey Kasprowicz struck out the side in the top of the ninth.  Alex Wilkey walked to lead of the bottom of the ninth and was replaced by pinch runner Reece Berner.  Tyler Henderson singled to right, sending Berner all the way to third.  Pinch hitter Dylan Magnuson grounded out to short, driving in a run to cut the lead to 4-3 and moving Henderson to second.  Aaron Keeney grounded out to first for the second out, moving the tying run to third.  But Adam Brown flew out to right to end the rally and the game.  Reed Marquardt, who started and went 7 1/3 innings, took the loss.  He allowed three earned runs on three hits, walked four, hit two and struck out 12.

High-Scoring Games

The Bulldogs proceeded to score 52 runs over their next four games, but only went 2-2 in the process.  Against the Nowthen Knights at home on Saturday, June 10, the Bulldogs led 8-0 in the bottom of the eighth when Josh Von Feldt stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded.  Von Feldt blasted the first pitch he saw deep down the right field line.  The ball sailed high over the fence a few feet inside the foul pole for the Bulldogs’ first grand slam in over a decade, making the score 12-0 and ending the game due to the ten-run rule.

The Bulldogs pounded out 16 hits in crushing the Braham Snappers 16-1 at Braham.  The game was shortened to six innings because of the 15-run rule.  Jack Boeck and Ryan Sanvik had three hits each to lead the attack.  Bailey Kasprowicz went the distance for the shutout.  He allowed one earned run on three hits, walked one and struck out seven.

The Bulldogs lost 16-12 in a non-league game to the Becker Bandits on Monday, June 12 at Becker.  The Bandits blew the game open with nine runs in the bottom of the fifth.  The Bulldogs scored five in the top of the ninth to make the game look closer.  Sanvik again led the Bulldogs with three hits.  On Thursday, June 15, the Bulldogs lost 13-12 to the Metro Knights at Polar Lakes Park in White Bear Lake.  There were 23 walks between the two teams in the game, with the Bulldogs on the receiving end of 15 of them.  The umpire had a very small strike zone, which didn’t help.  The Bulldogs led 10-4 after scoring eight runs in the top of the fourth but gave up a combined nine runs in the sixth and seventh innings and did not respond.

Forest Lake 9, Chisago Lakes 2

As the culmination of a day of baseball between the Forest Lake and Chisago Lakes youth baseball programs, the Bulldogs played the Forest Lake Brewers at Schumacher Field in Forest Lake on Saturday evening, June 17.  The Rangers, one of the best teams in the state, took advantage of a couple of Bulldog errors for three unearned runs, and the Bulldogs hit five line drives right at people, limiting rallies.  So, despite losing 9-2, the Bulldogs could feel somewhat good about putting up a good fight against the Brewers.

Chisago Lakes Bulldogs – North Branch Nighthawks Doubleheader

The Nighthawks scored five runs in the first inning off Bulldogs starter Tyler Stilp and went on to beat the Bulldogs 8-4 to retain The Mug, which is the traveling trophy donated by Pizza Pub.  The Mug will remain on display at the North Branch Pizza Pub after the Nighthawks’ win.  The Nighthawks have won The Mug all four years of the tradition, so The Mug has never been displayed at the Bulldogs’ preferred Pizza Pub in Center City.  Pizza Pub generously sponsors both teams. The game was played at North Branch High School, with the Wildcats being the home team.

Jimmy Skroch went the distance to pick up the win for the Nighthawks, although the Bulldogs had their best showing ever against him.  He allowed four earned runs on eight hits, walked one, hit one, and struck out nine.  Of the five runs allowed by Stilp, only two were earned.  Stilp’s arm was injured and his status for future starts this season is uncertain.  Reed Marquardt pitched six innings in relief for the Bulldogs.  He allowed three earned runs on six hits, walked one and struck out eight.

In the top of the first, Josh Lauer doubled in two runs, another run scored on an error and Matt Robinson  and Sam Robillard followed with run scoring singles to make it 5-0.   Bulldog Alex Wilkey turned on the first pitch he saw from Skroch in the bottom of the second and blasted it well over the fence in deep right for his first home run of the season, cutting the Nighthawk lead to 5-1.  The Nighthawks later added three more runs, including run scoring singles by Isaiah Scarborough and Lauer.  For the Bulldogs, Adam Brown had a run-scoring single and Aaron Keeney drove in two with a single to make the final score 8-4.

In the second game of the day, Wildcats starter Bailey Kasprowicz allowed just one unearned run in seven innings and drove in the winning run in the top of the seventh as the Bulldogs beat the Nighthawks 2-1 to earn a split of the doubleheader.  Kasprowicz allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out four.  Charlie Linder started for the Nighthawks.  In four scoreless innings, he allowed two hits, walked two and struck out four.  Matt Robinson pitched the final three innings for the Nighthawks and took the loss.  He allowed two runs (one unearned) on six hits and walked one.

With one out in the bottom of the first, an infield single by Jimmy Skroch and a bloop single to left by Nick Solberg put runners on first and second.  Josh Lauer followed with a single to left and, when it was bobbled by Bulldog left fielder Collin Hackl, Skroch scored to make it 1-0.  But Kasprowicz struck out 6 and induced a groundout to short from Isaiah Scarborough to end the Viking rally.  The Bulldogs finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth.  Josh Von Feldt singled with one out, and Jeremy Knutson reached on an error by shortstop Brady Brodin.  Collin Hackl hit a ground ball to second.  Skroch flipped the ball to shortstop Brodin to force Knutson, but Brodin’s throw to first was wild.  Keeney scored to tie the game.  Hackl stole second and beat the throw to third when he got picked off second.  Tanner Marquardt walked.  He stole second without a throw from the Vikings.  Skroch falsely told Marquardt the pitch had been fouled off, so Marquardt headed back toward first.  He ended up being tagged out in a rundown, ending the Bulldog rally.  In the top of the seventh, Reed Marquardt singled, went to second when Tyler Stilp reached on an error, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Kaspowicz’s line single down the left field line.  In the bottom of the inning, Justin Axberg walked with one out.  One out later, Skroch was hit on the elbow by a pitch, but was not allowed to go to first because the umpire ruled that he had stuck his arm in front of the ball intentionally.  He singled to left on the next pitch, but Solberg popped out to third to end the game.

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