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Osceola 4, Chisago Lakes 3

A revised catcher’s interference call allowed the go-ahead run to score for the Osceola Braves in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the lead held, as the Braves beat the Bulldogs 4-3 Wednesday, May 29 at Oakey Park in Osceola, Wisconsin.

In the top of the second, Nate Zingerman led off with a single.  After Colin Hackl struck out, Zingerman advance to second on a wild pitch and went to third on a passed ball before Rayn Sanvik struck out.  Jace Piepgras hit a swinging bunt about 20 feet up the third base line.  The Braves’ catcher ran out to field the ball as the speedy Zingerman headed raced home.  The catcher picked up the ball and attempted to tag Zimmerman as he went past, but Zingerman eluded the tag and crossed the plate to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.  In the bottom of the fourth, a walk, a sacrifice and a hit batter put runners on first and second for the Braves with two out.  The next batter singled to center.  The lead runner scored, and when the ball got away from center fielder Zingerman, the other runner came all the way around from first to score, and the Braves led 2-1.

In the top of the fifth, Ryan Sanvik singled to right.  Jace Piepgras hit a slow roller to third.  The third baseman charge and threw Piepgras out at first, but the lightning-fast Sanvik kept going as he rounded second and easily made it to third.  He scored on a groundout by Dusty Rhodes, and the game was tied 2-2.  Reed Marquardt led off the top of the sixth with a double.  Alex Wilkey grounded out to first, moving Marquardt to third.  Zingerman hit a grounder that was booted by the third baseman, scoring Marquardt to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.  But Hackl and Sanvik struck out to end the rally.  In the bottom of the seventh, a hit batter and a walk put runners on first and second with no outs.  Pitcher Hunter Lindstrom whirled and threw to second in a pickoff attempt.  The runner on second got caught in a rundown and was eventually tagged out by left fielder Sanvik, with the other runner moving to second.  The next batter hit a grounder to first that was booted by Wilkey, putting runners on first and third.  single drove in the runner from third, and the game was tied 3-3.

In the bottom of the eighth, reliever Marquardt walked the first three batters he faced.  After a popout to second, the next batter had a 1-0 count.  He fouled a ball off to the right.  The batter claimed that his bat ticked catcher Piepgras’s glove as he swung through, but the umpire ruled that there was no contact.  The Osceola third base coach came in to argue, and somehow convinced the umpire to change his mind, and the umpire ruled catcher’s interference.  Despite subsequent protests by the Bulldogs, the call stood, scoring the run.  Marquardt struck out the next two batters, but the damage from the changed call was done.  All three Bulldog batters struck out in the top of the ninth inning as Osceola held on for a 4-3 win.

Omann Insurance 

Invitational

The Bulldogs played in the Omann Insurance Invitational last weekend, held at St. Cloud Orthopedic Field in Sartell and Trobec Field in St. Stephen.

Forest Lakes 9, Chisago Lakes 0

In the first game, played Saturday at Sartell, the Bulldogs didn’t put up much of a fight.  They managed just three hits against Forest Lake Brewers pitching – a double by Tyler Stilp and singles by Brendan Hemr and Tommy Fitzer.  For the Brewers on offense, eight hits, four walks, four hit batters and four Bulldog errors added up to nine runs as the shut out the Bulldogs 9-0.

Nisswa 9, Chisago Lakes 4

With the Nisswa Lightning leading 5-4 in the top of the sixth inning in the second game on Saturday afternoon, a Bulldog error on a routine ground ball with two outs and the bases loaded led to four runs, and the Bulldogs went on to lose 9-4.  The game was played at St. Stephen.

The Bulldogs trailed 2-0 going into the bottom of the third inning.  Jace Piepgras led off with a walk and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tommy Fitzer.  Tyler Stilp singled to center, moving Piepgras to third.  One out later, Alex Wilkey lined a single to left to score Piepgras, cutting the Lightning lead to 2-1.   The Lightning answered with a run in the top of the fourth to go up 3-1.  With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the inning, Aaron Keeney drilled a ball over the fence in right for his first town ball home run, pulling the Bulldogs back within one.  Nisswa answered with two more runs the top of the fifth to go up 5-2.  In the bottom of the inning, Wilkey singled with one out.  Beau Fandel followed by blasting home run over the fence in left, cutting the Lightning lead to 5-4.

In the top of the sixth, two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases for Nisswa with two outs.  The next batter hit a routine two-hopper to first baseman Wilkey.  He appeared to field it cleanly but dropped it as he pulled it out of his glove.  He picked it up and underhanded it toward pitcher Tyler Stilp, who was covering first.  But the ball sailed over Stilp’s head.  Two runs scored, and runners ended up on second and third.  The next batter popped a single to right to drive in both runners, and the Lightning led 9-4.

With one out and one on in the top of the seventh, Nisswa’s Nate DeChaine launched a massive home run over the right field fence that looked to be about 20 feet fair.  The umpire, later stating he lost track of the ball, called it foul.  Three pitches later, DeChaine hit a screaming liner to the right of Wilkey.  He dove to his right and somehow caught the liner for the third out, denying DeChaine a hit.

Tyler Stilp and Reed Marquardt led off with back-to-back singles in the bottom of the seventh.  On a 1-1 count to Wilkey, a ball in the dirt bounced about ten feet to the right of the catcher.  An alert Stilp took off right away and made it to third easily.  Marquardt got a late break and got caught in a rundown between first and second.  As the first baseman took a throw, Stilp took off from third.  The first baseman spun and threw home just in time to get Stilp.  Marquardt ended up on second.  Wilkey and Fandel struck out to end the game.

Detroit Lakes 14, Chisago Lakes 4

A tired and depleted Bulldog squad faced the Detroit Lakes Ligers Sunday morning at Sartell.  The Ligers exploded for five runs in the top of the first inning.  The Bulldogs cut it to 5-3 after three innings, but Detroit Lakes scored nine runs over the final four innings to beat the Wildcats 14-4.  Dylan Magnuson drove in Aaron Keeney with a groundout in the bottom of the first to get the Bulldogs on the scoreboard.  Tyler Stilp doubled into the left field corner in the bottom of the third to score Jack Boeck and Keeney, cutting the Liger lead to 5-3.  The Ligers responded with two runs in the top of the fourth.  In the bottom of the inning, Steve Budke hit a two-out grounder to short.  The shortstop threw the ball over the first baseman’s head, and Budke ended up on second.  Hunter Lindstrom singled to right center to score Budke.  But the Ligers piled on seven more runs over the next three inning for a comfortable 14-4 win.

Twin Ports Trip

The Bulldogs headed north last Saturday to play a doubleheader against the Twin Ports Timbers, a Duluth-area team.  The Bulldogs lost both games, but it turned out to be one of the more, shall we say, interesting baseball experiences the team has ever had.

Initially, the Bulldogs were supposed to play at venerable Wade Stadium, a beloved 4,200 seat facility that is over 80 years old.  Unfortunately, Wade turned out to not be available, so the games were switched to Proctor High School, which has a decent baseball field.  Then, two days before the games, the Timbers team contact called and said that, due to getting some signals crossed, the field in Proctor was not available.  So, the game was being moved to Morrie Arnovich Field, across the border in Superior, Wisconsin.  Arnovich Field was playable, barely, but it had the worst mound any of the Bulldog players had ever seen.  But they had driven all the way to Duluth, so they decided to play on.

The Bulldogs were welcomed to the field with a case of beer, donated by the Timbers.  Somehow, with the game being in Wisconsin, this was not a surprise.  When the Bulldogs unloaded their equipment bags, they discovered that they had no catcher’s equipment.  A player who did not make it up to Duluth had the Bulldogs’ team set, and three players who have their own catcher’s equipment also did not make it to Duluth.  So the Bulldogs had to buy a brand new set of catcher’s equipment at a sporting goods store that was, luckily, only a one-minute drive from the field.

The umpire turned out to be a youth baseball teammate of a couple of the Bulldog players, so it was like old home week.  The games got underway, and the Bulldogs got off to a good start.  They scored  three runs in the first inning, including two on a double by Dusty Rhodes.  But that was all they could muster in the first game.  Jacob Mickelson had a decent complete game start for the Bulldogs.  Of the six runs scored by Twin Ports, only three were earned.  Mickelson allowed six hits, walked four and struck out four in the Bulldogs’ 6-3 loss.

In the second game, Bailey Kasprowicz made his first appearance on the mound since being injured before the season started.  Kasprowicz had an impressive outing as he shook off the rust.  He allowed two unearned runs on one hit, walked three and struck out seven in four innings of work.  Steve Budke relieved Kasprowicz with the Bulldogs leading 3-2 and pitched well, but the Bulldog defense continued its day-long struggle.  Of the four runs allowed by Budke, only one was earned.  The Bulldogs committed six errors in the game.  The next two relievers, Rhodes and Reece Berner, struggled with the terrible mound, each walking the two batters they faced.  Finally, coach Cory Stilp made his first pitching appearance as a Bulldog.  Throwing mostly eephus pitches, Stilp gave up a couple of hits but got the Bulldogs through the top of the seventh inning.  Unfortunately, the Timbers had put the game out of reach by that point, and the Bulldogs lost 10-4.  Jace Piepgras had two hits and two RBIs for the Bulldogs in the game.

Needless to say, it was not a productive trip to the Lake Superior area.

Chisago Lakes 15, Ham Lake 0 (5 innings)

In their first Eastern Minny League game of the season, the Bulldogs shut out the hapless Ham Lake Hornets 15-0.  Hunter Lindstrom allowed one hit, no walks and struck out nine in picking up his second win of the season.  Beau Fandel blasted three doubles and knocked in three runs.  Reed Marquardt had two hits and three RBIs.  The Hornets have struggled since they came into the league last year, more so than other new teams generally struggle.  They have a record of 0-20 since the start of last season.  This year, they are 0-4, and they have scored five runs and given up 77 runs in those four games.

Bulldog Banter

The Bulldogs will head up to historic Brennan Field in Hinckley tomorrow night to take on the Hinckley Knights, the other Eastern Minny League team that went to the state tournament last season.  This weekend, the Bulldogs will head to the Clear Lake/Clearwater area for the Clear Lake/Clearwater Tournament this weekend.  The first game for the Bulldogs will be against the Dilworth Raildogs on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.  The Bulldogs will play another game Saturday and a game on Sunday, with opponents, times and fields TBD.  Next Wednesday, June 18, the Bulldogs will welcome the Mora Mustangs to Lindstrom for a 7:30 p.m. game.  Come on out to Pat Collins Field at Chisago Lakes High School and enjoy some concessions and a ballgame.

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