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Princeton 2, Chisago Lakes

Beau Fandel of the fourth-seeded Bulldogs and Damon Rademacher of the top-seeded Princeton Panthers engaged in an epic pitcher’s duel in the second game of the Region 1C South playoffs last Friday night at Solheim Field at Mark Park in Princeton.  The difference in the game was two early errors by the Bulldogs that led to two Panther runs, as Princeton held on to beat the Bulldogs 2-0.

Tyler Stilp lined the first pitch of the game right at Panther third baseman Eli Gibb for an out.  With two outs, Alex Wilkey hit a high fly ball to deep right field.  The ball carried and looked like it had a chance to go out, but right fielder Mason Beltrand caught it on the warning track for the third out.  Rademacher led off the bottom of the first inning with a fly ball to left that was misjudged by left fielder Bailey Kasprowicz and dropped for a single.  Rademacher stole second.  Jake Carlson flew out to center and Beltrand struck out.  Nolan Spence hit a routine ground ball to third.  Bulldog third baseman Tyler Stilp fielded the ball cleanly, but threw it over the head of first baseman Alex Wilkey for an error.  Rademacher scored all the way from second, and the Panthers led 1-0.

Gibbs singled to left to lead off the bottom of the second.  Gibbs stole second. Dan Voce hit a slow roller toward third.  Stilp charged it and tried to scoop it, but the ball bounced off his glove.  Voce was safe at first and Gibbs topped at third.  On a 1-0 count to Tyson Dusosky, Voce took off for second and the Bulldogs elected not to throw down.  Dusosky hit a grounder to short.  Bulldogs’ shortstop Reed Marquardt checked the runners, who held, and threw to first for the second out.  Gehrig Scheffel hit a fly ball to deep center.  Gibbs tagged and scored to make it 2-0, and Voce moved to third.  Rademacher walked.  On a 2-1 count to the next batter, Rademacher jogged off first.  Fandel threw over to first.  As Rademacher jogged toward second, Wilkey threw the ball to Marquardt covering second as Voce took off for home.  Marquardt whipped a perfect throw home and catcher Nick Brown applied the tag for third out, keeping the score at 2-0.

Both pitchers continued to dominate the game, and Radmacher had a no-hitter through five innings.  With two outs in the top of the sixth, Fandel lined a single to center to break up the no-hitter.  Marquardt walked, but Wilkey flew out to left to end the inning.  Adam Brown walked to lead off the top of the seventh, and Dusty Rhodes sacrificed him to second.  One out later, Nate Zingerman walked.  Reece Berner hit a ground ball up the middle that looked like it had a chance to sneak through to the outfield, but shortstop Dusosky scooped it up and threw the speedy Berner out by half a step to end the Bulldogs’ best scoring chance of the game.  Adam Brown singled to center to lead off the top of the ninth.  Rhodes struck out and Kasprowicz popped out.  On a 2-2 count, Nate Zingerman checked his swing just in time on a pitch out of the zone to make it 3-2.  He took the next pitch for strike three, ending the game.  Princeton’s 2-0 win kept them in the winner’s bracket, and the loss sent the Bulldogs to the elimination bracket.

In eight innings, Fandel allowed two unearned runs on four hits, walked four, hit a batter and struck out seven.  In nine innings, his opponent Rademacher allowed no runs on three hits, walked three, hit a batter and struck out seven.

Chisago Lakes 10, East Bethel 0 (7 innings)

On Saturday, the Bulldogs took on the East Bethel Bandits in their first elimination game.  Hunter Lindstrom pitched a three-hit shutout for the Bulldogs, and Alex Wilkey hit his third home run of the year to lead the Bulldogs to a 10-0 win in a game that as shortened to seven innings because of the ten-run rule.

The Bulldogs jumped on the Bandits right away in the bottom of the first.  Wilkey singled to drive in a run, Dusty Rhodes walked to force in a run and Reed Marquardt scored on a balk to make it 3-0.  In the fourth, Lindstrom walked and Stilp lined a ball into the left field corner, with Lindstrom scoring all the way from first.  With one out in the fifth, Wilkey got a hold of a 1-1 pitch and sent it well over the right field fence for a home run to make it 5-0.

The Bulldogs put the game completely out of reach in the bottom of the sixth.  Bailey Kasprowicz singled, Lindstrom walked and Nick Brown moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt.  One out later, Brendan Hemr beat out an infield hit, scoring Kasprowicz.  Marquardt singled to left.  Left fielder Tyler Marcio threw the ball past the cutoff man and it rolled into foul territory.  The first two runners scored easily, and Marquardt sped all the way around the bases and dove in just ahead of the tag with the fourth run of the inning, making it 9-0.  In the bottom of the seventh, Zingerman walked, stole second, and went to third on a pickoff attempt by catcher Owen Rumpca.  One out later, Kasprowicz lined a ball to right center over the heads of the drawn-in outfield, scoring Zingerman to make the score 10-0, ending the game.

Winning pitcher Lindstrom allowed no runs on three hits, walked three, hit three, and struck out five.  Stilp led the way for the offense with three hits, including a double.

Chisago Lakes 13, Elk River 3 (8 innings)

The story of the Bulldogs’ next elimination bracket game was power.  The Bulldogs won the home run battle 3-1 and won the game 13-3, keeping them alive in the elimination bracket.  Reed Marquardt, Brendan Hemr, and Beau Fandel – who hit what was probably the hardest ball in the Eastern Minny League this season – homered for the Bulldogs, and Sam Stockman – on his way to Division 1 Utah to play baseball – hit a long ball for the Lumberjacks.

With the Bulldogs leading 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth and Aaron Keeney on first, Marquardt launched a high fly ball to deep right, like a left-handed Harmon Killebrew.  The ball carried well over the fence for a two-run homer, Marquardt’s third of the season.  After Alex Wilkey walked, Hemr hit an even higher fly ball to deep center.  Hemr’s Killebrew-esque shot carried over the fence for his first home run of the season, and the Bulldogs led 6-1.  In the bottom of the fifth, Fandel stepped up to the plate with two on and two out.  He crushed the first pitch toward left.  Seemingly half a second later, while it still seemed to be rising, the ball banged off the scoreboard, evoking Roy Hobbs in the movie The Natural, and putting an exclamation point on the Bulldogs’ display of power, making the score 9-1.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Bulldogs led 12-3 with the bases loaded and two outs.  Marquardt hit a ground ball between first and second.  It handcuffed the second baseman and bounced a few feet to his left.  Marquardt easily reached first as Tom Fitzer crossed the plate with a run to make it 13-3, ending the game due to the ten-run rule.

Bailey Kasprowicz pitched eight innings for the complete game win.  He allowed three earned runs on seven hits, walked just one and struck out 11.

Bulldog Banter

As the playoffs shift to Brennan Field in Hinckley, the Bulldogs have a lot of work to do on Saturday if they want to make it to the state tournament for the second year in a row.  Friday night at 7 p.m., Princeton plays Isanti, with the winner advancing to the state tournament as the number one seed.  At 1 p.m. Saturday, the Bulldogs will face the Ramsey Renegades in an elimination bracket game, with the winner advancing.  If the Bulldogs win, at 4 p.m. they will play the winner of the Rum River-Hinckley game.  If they win that game, they will play the loser of the Princeton-Isanti game at 7 p.m., with the winer advancing to the state tournament.

The last time the Bulldogs hit three home runs in a game – in fact, the only other time the Bulldogs hit three home runs in a game – was in an invitational tournament game at Quamba in 2015.  Jake Kari, original Bulldog Dylan Magnuson and the gargantuan Kellen Reed all hit home runs off the same pitcher – and they were the only home runs the Bulldogs hit that season.

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