A two-week layoff seemed to slow down the Wayne American Legion Post 43 Seniors as they were upset by Wisner-Pilger-Howells-Dodge 7-4 in the quarterfinals of the Ralph Bishop League tournament Thursday at Hank Overin Field.
The visitors took advantage of two hits, two walks and two Wayne errors to take a 3-0 lead and never trailed in the game.
Wayne got a run back in the second when Payten Gamble stole home with two out to get the locals on the board, but W-P-H-D extended their lead in the fourth with three more runs, using one hit, two errors and a passed ball to make it a 6-1 game.
Wayne came to life in the bottom of the fourth. Tyler Lutt led off the rally with a single, Zane Jackson was hit by a pitch and Gamble walked to load the bases. Singles by Adam Bentjen and Justin Dean followed as Wayne got within 6-4, and Beau Bowers followed with a single to load the bases with nobody out.
That was as close as Wayne would get, as the visitors got out of the inning with two infield flies and a strikeout to leave the bases loaded. Wayne loaded the bases again in the sixth after singles by Tucker Nichols and Brennan O’Reilly and a walk by Ryan Jaixen, but a groundout ended the threat and the visitors tacked on another insurance run in the seventh for the win.
Lutt, Bentjen, Dean, Bowers, Nichols and O’Reilly all had hits for the 12-4 Seniors. Gamble scored twice and Dean had two RBI’s. Nichols struck out nine in four innings while taking the loss, with Bentjen throwing three innings in relief.
The Seniors’ next scheduled contest is at Norfolk on Tuesday.
