---

Chisago Lakes 12, Metro Knights 10

Clint Eastwood starred in the movie “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”  The Bulldogs’ game against the Metro Knights last Monday, May 20, contained all three of those elements.

The good:  Nate Zingerman started and threw three scoreless innings before coming out due to an early-season pitch count limit.  Hunter Lindstrom threw the final 4 2/3 innings and allowed one unearned run to pick up the win.  And the Bulldogs came back from a 10-3 deficit to win the game.

The bad:  The Bulldogs committed six errors, had five wild pitches and three passed balls.

The ugly:  The game took three hours and 15 minutes, which is a very long time for a nine-inning town ball game.  A good part of the reason for the long game was a combined 21 walks and four hit batters between the two teams.  The top of the eighth inning was especially ugly, but that turned out to be a good thing for the Bulldogs.

When all was said and done, the Bulldogs came away with a 12-10 win.

In the top of the first, Zingerman singled with one out.  Noah Couwenhoven hit a hard ground ball to second that was booted by the second baseman.  The speedy Zingerman made it all the way to third.  One out later, Brendan Hemr singled to center, scoring Zingerman to make it 1-0.  Zingerman singled to lead off the top of the third.  One out later, Zingerman stole second.  With two outs, Hemr walked.   Both runners moved up on a wild pitch.  Tommy Fitzer lined a single to right to score both runners, and the Bulldogs led 3-0.

Adam Brown, making his first pitching appearance of the season, came out to pitch the bottom of the fourth.  Four walks, an error and one hit later, the Knights led 4-3 and Reece Berner, in his first pitching appearance as a Bulldog, came in to replace Brown with two outs.  Berner got the first batter he faced to fly out, ending the Knights’ rally.  But a Knight’s batter doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth.  The next batter hit a fly ball right at center fielder Hemr, who dropped it, allowing a run to score and the batter to get to third.  Another run scored on a wild pitch, making it 6-3.  Two walks and a passed ball put runners on second and third.  Berner struck out the next batter.  A single to left drove in both runners and Lindstrom replaced Berner on the mound. He got the first batter he faced to ground out, with the runner on first moving up to second.  A single and errors by Brown and Jeremy Knutson led to two more runs before Lindstrom struck out the last batter to end the inning with the Knights leading 10-3.

Alex Wilkey and Hemr walked to lead off the top of the seventh.  Jack Boeck singled to right to drive in Wilkey.  Boeck stole second.  The catcher faked the throw down to second, turned and whipped the ball to third, and Hemr was tagged out in a rundown.  Dusty Rhodes struck out.  With Aaron Keeney at the plate, the pitcher whirled and threw to second.  Boeck was well off the base, so he just took off for third.  The Knights’ second baseman waited too long to make a throw and Boeck dove into third safely.  He scored on a wild pitch, and the Bulldogs trailed 10-5.

The Wildcats scored six runs in the top of the eighth without the benefit of a hit.  A hit batter, three walks, a strikeout, three more walks and two wild pitches added up to six runs and gave the Wildcats an 11-10 lead.  In the top of the ninth, Brown led off with a single and later scored on a double by Couwenhoven to make it 12-10.  Lindstrom finished off the win with a strong ninth.

Bulldog Banter

This weekend, the Bulldogs will play in the Omann Insurance Invitational, hosted by the Sartell Muskies and St. Stephen Steves.  The Bulldogs will open the tournament on Saturday against the Forest Lake Brewers at 10:30 a.m. at St. Cloud Orthopedics Field in Sartell.  They will play again Saturday afternoon and once on Sunday, with the times and locations still TBA.  They will open the league season on Wednesday, June 5 against the Rum River Bandits at 7 p.m. at Larson Field in Cambridge.

---