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Chisago Lakes 7, Albertville 2

Ty Escobedo drove in three runs to lead the Bulldog baseball team to a 7-2 win over the Albertville Anglers in the opening game of the Minnesota Baseball Association District 1B playoffs on Saturday, July 26 at Brennan Field in Hinckley.  Jacob Mickelson started and went six innings to pick up the win, and Carson Luxem pitched the final three innings to get the save.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.  Brendan Hemr beat out a grounder to third for an infield hit to open the inning and stole second.  Reed Marquardt hit a hard ground ball to the second baseman.  It deflected off his glove an trickled into right field.  Hemr scored to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.  Marquardt stole second.  Tyler Stilp grounded a single through the left side of the infield, moving Marquardt to third.  Beau Fandel lined a single to left to drive in Marquardt.  Alex Wilkey popped a single to right to load the bases.  Escobedo singled to right to drive in Stilp making the score 3-0.  Tom Fitzer grounded to third and Fandel was forced out at home, leaving the bases loaded.  Nick Brown hit a weak grounder back to pitcher Ethan Knutson.  Knutson didn’t field the ball cleanly, and Wilkey scored the fourth run of the inning.

Mickelson allowed just one Angler baserunner through the first four innings.  In the top of the fifth, a walk, an errant pickoff throw and an error put runners on first and third with no outs.  The next two batters popped out.  A balk by Mickelson allowed a run to score.  The batter flew out to left to end the Albertville rally.  In the top of the sixth, the Anglers loaded the bases with three singles.  With two outs, Nick Dinkel hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield.  Shortstop Marquardt went deep in the hole to field it and fired to Escobedo at second, too late to get the runner sliding in as the runner on third scored.  The runner from second also tried to score, but Escobedo whirled and fired a strike to catcher Nick Brown, and the runner didn’t even bother to slide as Brown tagged him out.

The Bulldogs added three more runs in the bottom of the seventh.  Marquardt doubled to left with one out.  Tyler Stilp hit a grounder to short.  The shortstop double clutched trying to get the ball out of his glove, and Stilp beat the throw to first.  Fandel lined a double to right center to score Marquardt.  Alex Wilkey struck out.  On an 0-1 count, Escobedo lined a single to left to score both runners, and the Bulldogs led 7-2.  Luxem, who had entered the game in the seventh, shut down the Anglers in the eighth and ninth innings to seal the win.

Mickelson allowed two runs – one earned – in six innings.  He walked on and had no strikeouts.  In three innings, Luxem allowed no runs on one hit and struck out two.

Cold Spring 7, Chisago Lakes 6

Despite loading the bases in the top of the ninth inning, the Bulldogs were not able to score the tying run and lost to the top-seeded Cold Spring Springers 7-6 in the second round of the District 1B playoffs at Hinckley on Sunday, July 27.  The loss dropped the Bulldogs into the elimination bracket.  They will face the North Branch Nighthawks this Saturday at 10:30 a.m., with the winner advancing to the next round on Sunday.

Brendan Hemr walked to open the game and stole second.  Reed Marquardt lined a double to right center to score Hemr, giving the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead.  Nick Brown was hit by a pitch to open the top of the second.  Carson Luxem sacrificed him to second.  One out later, Marquardt singled to center, and Brown scored to double the Bulldog lead to 2-0.  The Bulldog defense committed an error that helped lead to two runs in the bottom of the second inning, but two defensive plays help to limit the damage.  With the bases loaded and one out, the runner from third took off on a wild pitch.  The ball bounced hard off the backstop.  Catcher Brown raced to the ball, picked it up, whirled and fired to Fandel covering the plate.  Fandel got his glove down on the plate and the runner slid over the top of it for the out.  With the next batter at the plate, the runner took off from first and stole second.  The runner on third had drifted several steps toward home, but was not trying to score.  Second baseman Escobedo threw behind him to third baseman Tyler Stilp, and the runner was thrown out after a rundown, with Fandel applying the tag near home plate.

In the top of the third, Fandel reached on an error to open the inning.  Wilkey also reached on an error, with Fandel going all the way to third on the play.  One out later, Tom Fitzer hit a hard ground ball to second.  The second baseman knocked it down and threw Fitzer out at first.  Fandel scored on the play to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.  Brown lined a single to center.  Wilkey stopped at third, but the ball got by the center fielder and Wilkey raced home to make it 4-2.  In the bottom of the fourth, three straight doubles and a single led to three runs for Cold Spring and they took a 5-4 lead.  The Springers added two more runs in the seventh on two doubles and a single, pushing their lead to 7-4.

Hemer singled to lead off the top of the eighth and stole second.  Marquardt lined a double to center, scoring Hemr.  Two outs later , Alex Wilkey singled to center, scoring Marquardt to cut the Cold Spring lead to 7-6.

In the top of the ninth, with the Bulldogs still trailing 7-6, Fitzer came to the plate and the third baseman played in to guard against a bunt.  Fitzer bunted anyway and beat the throw to first.  River Bemlott came in to run for Fitzer.  Brown lined a ball to the wall in right center.  Bemlott hesitated before running to second, and advanced to third., but Brown was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double.  Jeremy Knutson came in to pinch hit for Luxem.  The Bulldogs decided not to try a squeeze play to attempt to tie the game.  Knutson popped out to the first baseman in foul territory on the first pitch for the second out.  Hemr walked and Marquardt was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.  On a 3-2 pitch Stilp hit a foul popup to the first baseman, ending the game.

Bulldog Banter

All District 1B playoff games are at Brennan Field in Hinckley.  As stated above, the Bulldogs will face their archrivals, the North Branch Nighthawks, in an elimination game on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Brennan Field in Hinckley.  If the Bulldogs win Saturday, they will take on the Sauk Rapids Cyclones on Sunday, August 3 at 1 p.m.  If you can’t make it out to a game, you can watch the Bulldog playoff games on NSPN.tv/townball

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