Copper Country Boys Eliminated At State Tourney

ST. CLAIR, Mich.---The Portage Lake Major Boys (age 11-12) Little League Baseball team had its state tournament come to an end in downstate St. Clair on Sunday, losing to Taylor Central, 10-4, in its final pool play game. The game was played in a steady rain, leading to muddy conditions for both teams, for a second straight day.

Portage Lake ended up losing all three games at the state tournament, despite putting together several nice rallies. The boys were the only team to score against pool champion Ash-Carleton, had a late lead slip away against Escanaba, and had the lead on Sunday midway through the game against Taylor before running out of pitching.

"I thought we played really well in all three games," Portage Lake Manager Wes Frahm said. "We just couldn't come up with a win. Today, we were right in it until the fifth inning, and it got away from us a little bit there. But, you know, they hit the ball. Their 3-4 hitters hit a combined three home runs today, and we walked a couple of guys in the top of the sixth."

"It's a good experience for the kids," Frahm added. "It's tough to get wins here, but we competed. In the four years that I've gone to the sate tournament, this is the best we've played, even though we didn't get a win."

Portage Lake took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Landon Stevens scored on a wild pitch. Taylor Central grabbed the lead when Jordan Footlander smoked a two-run homer to left-center field. But Portage Lake came right back in the bottom of the third when Bryce Hanner punched a base hit to right field, bringing two runs across the plate.

But Footlander hit another home run later in the game, back-to-back with Galbin Gonzalez (who hit two home runs against Escanaba on Friday), to put Taylor in command. Bryce Pugh hit a solo home run to close the scoring for Portage Lake.

Click the thumbnails in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box above to see photos and videos, and hear post-game comments from Coach Frahm.