Citizen Staff/James Wold
Waupun's Jake Wojahn delivers an RBI single during the Warriors' five-run sixth inning Wednesday at Hartford.
HARTFORD — At one point, it looked like Waupun was going to pull off another improbable baseball comeback Wednesday like it did last year.
Hartford wasn't going to let it happen. The preseason Little Ten favorites struck for four runs in the bottom of the sixth after blowing a 5-0 lead to take a 9-5 win.
The Orioles (8-6, 7-4 LTC) have to beat Wisconsin Lutheran today to split the LTC title with Beaver Dam. Waupun (12-5, 6-5), ranked fifth in Division 2, is resigned to playing spoiler Tuesday when it hosts Milwaukee Lutheran.
"It comes down to playing defense," Waupun coach Kevin DeBoer said. "They're an excellent team, one of the best we've seen all year.
"For us to come back from down 5-0 is a credit to how good we are."
Five Waupun errors led to five unearned runs from the Orioles. That and a 14-strikeout performance from Ryan Giesen proved to be too much to overcome.
"He's been pitching very well for us," Hartford coach Russ Grundy said of Giesen. "He's a very determined pitcher and he didn't get rattled."
Waupun, on the other hand, visibly lost its composure. The Warriors struggled to adjust to a generous, yet consistent strike zone on the left edge of the plate and Giesen capitalized.
"We lost our focus and we didn't make adjustments fast enough," DeBoer said. "Giesen really pitched to the strike zone and took advantage by hitting his spots."
Bo Miles got the start in his fourth pitching appearance of the season, a day after saving a 13-7 win over Beaver Dam. He missed in the wrong spot to Oriole catcher Nick Apel, who missed the first meeting between the teams but hit a two-run homer to left in the first inning.
"He was trying to get inside on him and he missed," DeBoer said. "Bo's got to understand that you miss to the one or two guys on the other team that can beat you."
Taylor Nehls had the first of his four errors on the day and Giesen later scored for a 3-0 edge. Jordan Stephens tripled and scored in the fourth and Jake Mahnke doubled before scoring on Jess Nickel's error in the fifth for a 5-0 edge.
"Bo did a phenomenal job through five innings," DeBoer said. "Our pitching depth gets better and better."
Waupun finally broke through in a big way in the sixth and tied it off of Giesen. Nickel singled, Zach Tavs walked and Nickel scored on a wild pitch before Tyler DeBoer got plunked.
Jake Wojahn's RBI single was followed by Ryan Rasmussen's double to deep center for another run. After a wild pitch, Joe Dolgner's sacrifice fly tied the game.
"I thought we could certainly get right back in it," coach DeBoer said. "Then they get three seeing-eye singles."
Those were preceded by Nehls' fourth miscue at third to lead off the sixth. Ben Navis came on in relief of Miles, who had worked his maximum number of innings by rule.
"This is the best practice you can get for the tournament," coach DeBoer said. "It does nothing but make us better.
"Not too many Division 2 teams can say that about their league."
Waupun, which had three hits from Rasmussen, suffered its worst loss of the year. The Warriors face Hortonville Friday.
HARTFORD 9, WAUPUN 5
Waupun 000 005 0 - 5 5 5
Hartford 300 114 x - 9 10 0
WP: Giesen (7 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 HP, 14 K)
LP: Navis (1 IP, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 K)
Leading hitters: W - Rasmussen 3-3, 2B; H - Stephans 3B; Apel 2-3, HR, 2 RBI; Stefanich 2-4, 2 RBI; Mahnke 2-3, 2B.