Portland rallied for three runs in the bottom of the final inning to come from behind and edge Wayland 7-6 in both team’s second game of the Denny Richardson Baseball Tournament at Lakewood.
The Wildcats lost the tournament opener earlier in the day 9-4 to Battle Creek Pennfield.
It was a heartbreaker for coach Trenton Wilcox’s group, which broke a 4-4 tie with a couple of runs in the top of the final inning before the Purple Raiders staged their winning rally. A couple of defensive errors helped Portland’s late surge.
Leading the way offensively for the Wildcats were Jeff Betz, Sean Maddux and Matt Schaendorf. Betz was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base. Maddux was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Schaendorf was 1-for-3 with an RBI and three stolen bases.
The Wildcats committed seven costly errors in the first game Saturday. Taking the loss on the mound was Jack Marcinek, who went 6 1/3 innings, giving up 9 runs, 4 earned, on 7 hits, while walking 1 and striking out 2.
Leading the way offensively for Wayland were Sean Maddux who was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Jared Jones, who was 1-for-1 with 2 RBIs.
The Wildcats will be back in O-K Gold Conference action Tuesday when they travel to The CAT to face Grand Rapids Catholic Central. The double-header is set for a 4:15 p.m. start time.
