SYRACUSE – It’s an old cliché that sometimes a loss is as good as a win. Well, in the case of South Bend Riley’s championship at the Wawasee Baseball Invitational, losing the final game of the day had championship qualities.

Wawasee’s Drew Anderson rounds third to score a run against South Bend Riley at the Wawasee Baseball Invitational. (Photos by Mike Deak)

While trying to win the title outright, South Bend Riley found themselves needing to score runs as the three-team tournament wound up being decided by run differential since all three teams – Riley, Lowell and Wawasee – all beat each other in round robin play.

The 9-8 win by Wawasee over Riley in the tournament’s final game left both teams feeling good about themselves after public address announcer Brian Spangle explained the unique scenario of run differential deciding the trophy holder, which Riley earned with a plus-two to Wawasee’s minus-one and Lowell’s minus-one. Riley beat Lowell 4-1 and Lowell beat Wawasee 4-2. So the combination of the runs scored versus runs allowed gave Riley the edge. Simple, right?

The final game between Wawasee and Riley featured two teams with potent offenses and a desperate need for bullpen success. While neither team really had a shutdown reliever emerge, Wawasee responded from each Riley challenge with a punch of its own.

Gage Reinhard had a big game at the dish, cracking two doubles and driving in three. His double in the fourth brought in two, giving the Warriors a 6-3 lead. In the sixth, Reinhard ripped another two-bagger, sending Wawasee up 8-7. A sacrifice fly later in the inning gave Wawasee a 9-7 lead.

Nate Hare of Wawasee slides into third under the tag attempt of South Bend Riley’s Alex Wieczorek at the Wawasee Baseball Invitational.

Drew Wright also had two doubles and drove in a run while Andrew Milligan got on base four times and scored twice.

Wawasee was fortunate to only give up one run in the bottom of the sixth when the Wildcats loaded the bases for slugger Hunter Knapp. With one out, Knapp slapped a grounder to third, where Wawasee took the force at the base, a run coming home. Gage Fannin then got the next batter to fly out, ending the threat up one run.

Riley went relatively quietly in the seventh to up Wawasee’s season record to 4-6 while Riley dipped to 7-5.

Fannin picked up the win, working 2.1 innings of relief.

“To a man, I challenged our dugout that whoever is on the mound, we just have to throw strikes,” said Wawasee head coach Brent Doty. “Let the defense work for us. That’s our motto. Whoever is fresh, whoever has a right arm or a left arm that is healthy, we’ll see what you have. Just go out and throw strikes.”

Gage Fannin of Wawasee pitches during the seventh inning of the Warriors’ 9-8 win over the South Bend Riley Wildcats at the Wawasee Baseball Invitational.

Lowell, which left Syracuse at 3-7 overall, rallied with three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 4-2 lead and held it for its victory over Wawasee in game one of the day.

Wright and Reinhard each had two hits for the Warriors while Patrick Navarro was the tough-luck loser on the hill, working 5.1 innings giving up just two earned and striking out four. Lowell had just three hits, but took advantage of walks and errors to capitalize.

Riley jumped out to a 4-0 lead quickly on Lowell and made the lead stand up in the 4-1 decision in the day’s second game.

For Wawasee, which struggled throughout the week in the Northern Lakes Conference, the win against Riley has Doty optimistic to get back into the NLC grinder. Northridge is next up Monday evening.

“I think this game is huge getting back into the NLC,” Doty said of the win against Riley. “I think this is the opposite of what happened to us against Norwell last week. We had a three-run lead and lost on a Friday, then head into NLCs. Today we finish strong on a Saturday and now head back into the NLC schedule.

“That’s a quality baseball team over there in South Bend Riley,” Doty continued. “Any time you can pick up a win, regardless of how it comes, you take it. We’ll take the momentum back into the conference this week and see where we stand.”