Forest Lakeís bid for a second consecutive Suburban East Conference baseball championship will be determined this week.

Three key SEC games, including one make-up, awaited coach Brian Raabeís. The Rangers entered play with a one-game lead over Hastings and Cretin-Derham Hall.

Forest Lake, the top-ranked team in the metro, led the league with an 11-2 mark and was 13-2 overall. After victories on Monday, Cretin-Derham Hall and Hastings were both 10-3 and a game back. The Rangers had a bye in the schedule Monday.

Both Hastings and Cretin await the Rangers this week.

That bye, coupled with Fridayís rain out of the Woodbury game, creates a key week for Raabeís club. The Woodbury game was played Tuesday. Results were not available at press time but can be found at www.forestlaketimes.com.

ìWe had our pitching set,î Raabe said on Monday. ìThe rain really messed up our plans.î

A key week

A single week in a season doesnít get much bigger than this one, Raabe said.

Lefty Erik Zentzis (1-0) was slated to pitch the Woodbury game. Forest Lake traveled to Cretin on Wednesday.

At 7 p.m. Friday, Forest Lake will entertain Hastings at The Ballpark at Schumacher Field. Forest Lake earned a home diamond 2-1 win over Cretin but lost at Hastings, 5-1 in the first meetings this season.

Raabe said the delay in playing the Woodbury game left him uncertain about the final pitching rotation for Cretin and Hastings.

Righty Jed Hanson (7-0) and lefty Trip Schultz (5-1) are both fresh and ready to go. Jeff Brooks (0-1, 3 saves) will be ready for relief duty.

As the week opened, Raabe was reminding his players that the teamís first goal was to win the SEC crown. Building a solid overall record and being ready for a Section 7 tournament run are additional team goals, the coach said.

ìThis is just one part of our season,î he said. ìThis is just the conference.î

He is quick to remind the club that the team won the SEC title last year only to stumble in the second round of the sectional tournament. An early elimination is not in the game plan this year, Raabe said.

After the big slate of SEC games, Forest Lake will host New Ulm (8-3) at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Schumacher. New Ulm, Raabeís hometown, is a perennial power in baseball and a good non-conference test, the coach said. The Ranger booster club will treat the teams to a picnic lunch following the game.

Ponies fall 12-2

In Forest Lakeís only game action of the week, the Rangers put up crooked numbers in the first three innings and cruised to an easy 12-2 win over Stillwater.

Schultz picked up the win with relief help from Zentzis. The duo scattered six hits in the road victory.

Forest Lake pushed home five runs in the first inning, added three in the second and tallied four more in the third inning to put the game on ice.

Schultz socked a three-run home run and Zentzis belted a solo homer for two key blows with the bats. Sophomore Drew Cremisino doubled twice, scored a pair of runs and knocked in four to add more punch to the offense.

For the big week ahead, Forest Lake has a number of hot bats.

Hanson entered the week with a lusty .463 batting average. Zentzis was batting .429, Cremisino .409 and Schultz .350.

Raabe said he is also encouraged by the surging Brooks who struggled early in the season but has steadily raised his batting average to near the .300 mark during recent games.

Top of Page

Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605