BASEBALL: Portage comes up short in Waunakee

The Portage Warriors couldn't make it two conference wins in a row, falling to host Waunakee on Friday afternoon, 5-4.

Waunakee scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning on a RBI single, but Portage almost got out of the frame with the game still tied. Before the game-winning hit, the Warriors called for a pitchout on a squeeze bunt. The play almost worked, but the runner beat the throw back to third to keep the inning alive. The game-winning hit followed to give Waunakee a 5-4 lead.

"Same old, same old. We find ways to really stay in the game by making solid plays and yet for whatever reason, we can't make the big, big play to get it done," said Portage coach Mike Hemming.

Portage took a 1-0 lead on a RBI triple by Wes Doleshaw in the third.

After Portage scored two runs in the fourth to make it 4-3, it tied the game with a bases-loaded walk by Scott Gessner

Waunakee's Brad Bastien got the win. The Warrior ace came in to work the final 2 2/3 innings and set down six of the final seven batters he faced to seal the victory.

Portage will return to action today, when it plays at the Madison Edgewood Tournament, beginning at 10 a.m.

WAUNAKEE 5, PORTAGE 4

Portage .................... 001   210   0 — 4  7  1

Waunakee ................ 004   010   X — 5  8  2

Pitchers — Clark, Johnson (L, 3), Schroeder (6); DiFrancesco, Follen (5), Bastien (W, 5). SO leaders — Clark 3, Bastien 3.

Leading hitters — Bortz (P) 2x4. 3B — Doleshaw (P).