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Better late than never

STANTON – It was such a good day for baseball Saturday afternoon that the Portage Lake and Wolverine Oldtimers decided to go extra innings.

By the time the oldtimers were finished, Portage Lake had a 5-4 victory in eight innings at the new Stanton Field.

The contest was the first of two games the veterans hold every summer. The next game will be this coming Saturday in Wolverine.

Portage Lake tallied the deciding run when a walk and fielder’s choice was followed by a single by Rick Niemi.

“It was a good, close game,” PL manager Paul Bianucci said. “It was a hot day and both teams had to reach back for a little bit more.”

The game was a pitcher’s duel between Floyd Wakeham of PL and Steve Stukel of Wolverine for six innings, being deadlocked at 1-1.

But Wolverine scored three times in the top of the seventh for a 4-1 lead as Pete Oikarinen delivered a two-run single and John “Hoot” Gibson brought in another a base hit.

“It looked like we might be able to hold on,” Wolverine manager Jim Oikarinen said. “But they (Portage Lake) took advantage of a couple of mistakes to get tied up.”

In the bottom of the seventh frame, the eventual winners loaded the bases on two errors and a walk.

Daryl Putala singled to bring in one run, another scored on an overthrow and Gordy Rintala’s solid single scored the tying marker.

Wakeham was relieved in the seventh by Paul, who got the mound victory. The two allowed eight hits.

Stukel, who allowed just one hit through six innings, took the loss. He gave up only four hits.

“I thought Floyd (Wakeham) and Stukel both pitched well,” Bianucci said. “There weren’t many hard-hit balls today.”

No one had two hits for PL, while Dave Yeo and Glenn Patrick counted two each for Wolverine.

Portage Lake now holds a 28-24 lead in the overall series.

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