The Portage Junior Legion team left nine men on base through seven innings, and the failure to cash in at the plate proved costly, as Reedsburg rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 6-5 victory over Portage in Reedsburg on Thursday night.

It was the third game lost in the seventh inning this season for the Portage juniors.

"The kids played hard again. They're right there," said Portage coach Jim Walker. "They just need to learn to play together to finish games. They got to find ways to win baseball games."

Portage jumped out to the early lead with a four-run first inning, but Reedsburg scored a single tally in each of the first two innings and then tied it with a pair of unearned runs in the fourth.

"Our two errors cost us two unearned runs in the fourth inning," Walker said. "Those two errors, along with some mental errors tonight is what the difference was in the seventh."

REEDSBURG 6, PORTAGE 5

Portage ...................400 001 0 - 5 5 2

Reedsburg ..............110 200 2 - 6 5 2

Pitchers (ip-h-r-bb-k) - Walker (4-4-4-3-3), Zeihen (L; 3-1-2-2-1); Harrison (3-3-4-0-2), Carter (2-0-0-0-2), Brotti (W; 2-2-1-1-2).

Leading hitters - Greene (P) 2x4. 2B - Greene 2, Mitchell (P), Gavin (R).