Thrilling win hopes to propel Port

The Port Washington High School baseball team hopes to build off of a thrilling, comeback victory at home last Friday.

In what coach C.J. Koehler called an “exciting, stressful game,” the Pirates plated three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Brown Deer, 6-5, in a nonconference game.

All the runs came with two outs.

Noah Prom, still working his way back into the lineup from an injury, started the rally with a two-strike, pinch-hit home run to left field.

“You knew right off the bat it was gone,” Koehler said.

“It was a very cool moment for him.”

Then Zach Uselding walked and stole second, and Nolan Large was hit by a pitch.

Marcus Schmit then knocked a grounder up the middle to the shortstop. Large had a big lead and made the play close at second, which led to the second baseman dropping the ball.

On that same play, Uselding scored the tying run.

“That was a great hustle play by Zach,” Koehler said.

With runners on first and second, Nolan Mueller stepped up to the plate. The junior “was able to hit a bleeder into right field” to score the winning run.

On the mound, senior Ryan Umhoefer provided the second straight quality start for the Pirates. He went 4-2/3 innings and allowed three earned runs, whiffed three and walked three.

“Ryan Umhoefer threw really well for us again,” Koehler said.

Beau Fleischman pitched one inning, and senior Lukas Burke finished the final 1-1/3 innings to earn his first varsity win.The Pirates’ other three runs came in the bottom of the third.

Daniel Barney led off with a double, and Eli Buczek bunted him to third. Uselding followed with an RBI double, and Large walked. Uselding had taken third on a wild pitch, and Large stole second.

Schmitt grounded out to plate one run, and Mueller hit a double for the third run.

Brown Deer scored three runs in the fifth inning and two in the sixth. One error in each inning cost the Pirates.

“We kind of gave them their runs there,” Koehler said.

On Saturday, Port lost at Muskego, 11-1.

Prom had his last rehabilitation start and pitched three good innings, Koehler said. Port was down 4-1 after three.

Once Prom left, Muskego scored five runs on six hits in the fourth inning.

Last Thursday, Port lost at Homestead, 9-1.

The game was 2-0 after four innings.

“Homestead was a big step forward for us. The final score doesn’t show that,” Koehler said.

Uselding had his best start of the season, going 5-2/3 innings, whiffing three and walking four. He allowed six runs, but only two were earned.

“He threw really well,” Koehler said.

Port played well offensively but stranded 10 runners.

“It was actually a game where we had more than 50% quality at-bats. We just didn’t get the big hit,” Koehler said.

Port, 0-4 in the North Shore Conference and 2-9 overall, was scheduled to host West Bend East on Tuesday and play at Nicolet on Thursday. Port hosts Cedarburg on Friday and Random Lake on Saturday.

The Pirates host Grafton at 5:30 p.m. on Monday for youth night. All Port youth baseball players are asked to arrive before 5 p.m. to be announced before the first pitch.

Grafton wins two of three NSC contests

Grafton’s baseball team edged NSC foe Nicolet, 11-9, on the road on Monday.

The Black Hawks bounced back from an 8-1 home loss to NSC leader Kewaskum last Thursday.

Ian Welton pitched four innings, and Josh Merkle pitched the final three.

The Indians jumped out with six runs in the first inning.

For Grafton, Jake Garncarz had two hits and Jack Pawlak and Sam Bulgrin each had one. Each of the three had a double. Bulgrin had one RBI.
 

Kewaskum had five players with two hits.

On June 5, Grafton used a five-run fourth inning to beat West Bend East on the road, 6-3.

Jacob Aleknavicius pitched six innings for the victory. Pawlak pitched one.

Lucas Gosewehr, Zack Merkle and Garncarz each had two hits. Josh Merkle had a double and three RBI. Matthew Tietz had one hit and two RBI. Zack Merkle scored two runs.

The Hawks, 4-2 in the NSC and 6-4 overall, were scheduled to play at West Bend West on Tuesday, host Whitefish Bay on Thursday, play at Port on Monday and host Homestead on Tuesday.