Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

It’s been pointed out before that when it comes to discussing the 2007 Forest Lake baseball team, it’s virtually impossible to sense how they will play from one game to the next. A good outing could be followed by a disaster, or a four-game losing streak could end with an improbable upset.

After a stunning 7-1 win over No. 1 ranked Cretin-Derham Hall on May 16, there was hope that maybe, just maybe, the Rangers will simply play up to the level of their competition. With the postseason beginning in less than a week, that was certainly an encouraging thought.

But then came a 9-2 loss to a very good Hastings team, followed by a 6-1 defeat to an even stronger Chisago Lakes program, and it was back to the mysterious riddle that is Forest Lake.

The Rangers (10-14) opened section play with a solid 9-0 victory over Elk River (8-12) on Tuesday, May 29, and then looked spectacular in a 8-0 win over Chisago Lakes last Thursday.

After knocking in 17 runs in those two games, the offense sputtered on Monday, June 4 in a 3-2 loss to Duluth Central at Schumacher Field.

“Our hitting was atrocious,” a frustrated Brian Raabe said.

The pitching of Brady Banse and Myles Carlson received Raabe’s seal of approval, as did the defense, but the lack of O was, “very disappointing,” for the Rangers head coach

“That’s all I got to say about it,” Raabe said.

The loss to Duluth Central sent Forest Lake to the loser’s bracket of the Section 7AA final four tournament, where they would meet St. Francis on Monday night in Lindstrom.

This game was not only a different story, but an entirely new genre written in a foreign language.

The final score was 23-4 in favor of Forest Lake.

This kept the Rangers in the tourney, but their season would end on Tuesday afternoon, after a 3-0 loss in a rematch with Duluth Central.

LAST WEEK

In order to reach the final four, the Rangers had to defeat Elk River and Chisago Lakes.

The first inning started slowly, as Elk River’s starting pitcher Zach Petchell had a difficult time finding the strike zone. But by the second inning it seemed like every time he put one over the plate, Forest Lake turned it into small-ball offense.

Heading to the third inning it was 4-0 in favor of the Rangers, and that would be more than enough for their starter, Banse.

“We played great, but this is the time you want to play well, and we did play well,” Forest Lake’s head coach Brian Raabe said after the methodical 9-0 win.

Working into the one-hit shutout, Banse allowed only one other base runner and struck out six.

“In the bullpen I was hitting my spots,” Banse said. “And coach Tal (Gravelle) said you gotta bring confidence and bring it on the mound, and that’s what I did.”

Forest Lake would end the night with 16 hits, and only one of those would go for extra bases, on a Nate Crudo double.

Joe Berger went three-for-four; Dan Cremisino was two-for-three with one RBI; Travis Evgen, recently moved from catcher to play second base, filled out the box score with two hits, two RBIs and one run; Christian Fogerty picked up two hits and two RBIs; Mike Schultz had three hits in three at-bats, scored three times and brought in one RBI.

The offensive outburst and six stolen bases improved the team’s outlook going into Thursday’s game at top-seeded Chisago Lakes, and it’s 19-2 record.

“We’re very, very confident. We’ve got our No. 1 on the mound (Trip Schultz), and he’s a senior. He looks for these big games like this, so he gets a big game.”

From a Forest Lake perspective, the trip to Chisago Lakes couldn’t have gone any better. While Tuesday turned into Singles Night, the Rangers came out in the top of the first and started ripping doubles.

Trip Schultz hit one, and then he was knocked home by a double from Cremisino. Little did anyone know that Schultz would be scoring the game-winning run on Cremisino’s game-winning RBI.

After Kyle Young (two-for-four, three RBIs), forced the Wildcats’ outfield to scramble again, Cremisino’s run would make it 2-0.

Whereas Dan Kaiser was exceptional as Chisago’s pitcher in the first meeting, he would get pulled in the second inning of this contest when the Rangers went up 3-0 on a Brent Kolbow single that scored Garrett Eischen.

While Kaiser was struggling, Schultz was just getting warmed up.

Schultz said he hadn’t really found “it” in the first inning, but it all came together in the second.

By the time the Wildcats came to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning, the No. 2 ranked team in the metro rankings was down 8-0. That score would hold as Schultz handed the ball over to the hard-throwing Carlson in the seventh to pick up the save.

“Surprisingly, the way this year’s gone, you’d think we’d all be down and stuff. But that one win on Tuesday (Elk River), all of sudden we feel like we’re the No. 1 team in the state.”

Raabe was having similar thoughts as he spoke about a club that had a .350 winning percentage in the regular season.

“We were on a down note, and these guys have pulled together and said, ‘That’s not the way we’re going to end it.’

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