We came out really well, hit the ball well, threw the ball well, fielder well until about the fifth or sixth inning and just everything kind of fell apart at once.”

Park head coach Dave Darr

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Park hosts fifth-ranked Stillwater (3-3, 4-3) on Wednesday, Forest Lake on Friday (3-3, 30-) and plays at sixth-ranked Cretin-Derham Hall (5-1, 5-1) Monday.

Jumping out to a 9-3 lead over visiting Woodbury Friday, the Park Wolfpack looked in great shape for a breakthrough win.

Instead, it was a visit to Heartbreak Hotel as the visiting Royals scored six runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to take an 11-9 decision.

Park held a seemingly comfortable 9-3 lead after five innings, but the Royals scored six runs in the sixth and then two more in the top of the seventh to take an 11-9 lead. Park’s first two batters struck out in the bottom of the seven, followed by a single and a fly out to end the game.

“We make some plays, just simple throws, but that’s the game,” said Park head coach Dave Darr. “We came out really well, hit the ball well, threw the ball well, fielder well until about the fifth or sixth inning and just everything kind of fell apart at once.

“It’s disappointing but they (the Royals) also came back, Darr added. “They made us make plays, they hit the ball and they brought in that leftie in the third inning and he just settled down and we couldn’t do anything against him. But that’s Woodbury. They battle and they claw and tip your hat to them as they had … we were hitting the ball well and we were up six runs and we answered their rally, but they just kept clawing and staying in the game and we just couldn’t do what we needed to do to make sure we came out ahead.

“But we competed a lot better today than we have the last few games,” Darr continued. “We were just more mentally focused on what we needed to do and what we’ve been working on and we did it. We were where we were supposed to be. And we got the ground balls that we wanted and the plays that we wanted, we just didn’t execute the whole plays to get the outs we needed.”

After struggling at the plate in their previous three games, the Wolfpack finally got their bats working early against Woodbury. Park scored five runs in the first inning and followed that with four more runs in the second. But unfortunately, that was more or less it for Park offensively and the Wolfpack had to watch as the Royals clawed their way back into the game.

Park outhit the visitors 10-8

The loss dropped the Wolfpack to 1-4 on the young season. Woodbury went to 2-3 in the SEC and 3-3 overall.

Sophomore first baseman Aaron Gilbert went 2-for-4 with a double and drove in three runs for the Wolfpack. Max Kaplan was 3-for-4 with a double and scored a run. Nolan Sease was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and scored. Joey Chilton, Connor Holtan, Masyn Hammer each had RBIs.

Kaplan pitched five innings, giving up six hits, six runs and four earned runs. He struck out four and walked none. Third pitcher Nolan Sease took the loss, allowing two earned runs in the seventh inning on two hits.

Park dropped a 9-3 decision at Roseville last Wednesday.

The Wolfpack lost 3-2 at White Bear Lake Monday afternoon, falling to 1-5 on the season and overall. Park hosts fifth-ranked Stillwater (3-3, 4-3) on Wednesday, Forest Lake on Friday (3-3, 30-) and plays at sixth-ranked Cretin-Derham Hall (5-1, 5-1) Monday.