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The Bulldogs, seeded fifth, led 2-0 entering the fifth inning, but the fourth-seeded Lakers, playing at home, rallied with a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to win 3-2.

"I was pleased because we did play our best game of the year," said Paynesville head coach Brad Skoglund.

"It was a very good game," he added. "We played well. Howard Lake played well."

The Bulldogs scored both of their runs with two outs. They took the lead in the top of the first on Chris Rohe's RBI double. They added a run to their lead in the fourth, when Ryan Schneider doubled with two outs and scored on Nick Stalboerger's single.

The Bulldogs missed an opportunity to score in the third, when they had runners on second and third with one out and their #3 and #4 hitters at the plate, but failed to score.

Paynesville's Jon Lieser and HL-W's Andy Gagnon combined for quite a pitcher's duel.Gagnon allowed only five hits and one earned run while striking out eight to earn the complete-game victory. Skoglund said Gagnon was one of the better pitchers the Bulldogs had faced all year. Gagnon led the Lakers to a 13-3 regular season record.

Lieser retired the first 12 batters of the game before allowing a lead-off single in the fifth. That runner scored for the only earned run by HL-W. Lieser struck out five and allowed only four hits - but all four came in the last two innings.

Lieser yielded a double to start the sixth, but retired the next two batters to put the Bulldogs within an out of getting out of the jam. Then the Bulldogs' only error of the game allowed the tying run to score.

"It seems like that's the way the season went," said Skoglund, whose team finished with six wins and 12 losses. "If we made one mistake, they capitalized."

The next Laker hitter blooped a single to score the winning run. "If they hit a shot off the fence, you feel a little better about it, but when a bleeder gets in, it hurts," Skoglund said.

"That's the way our season went," he repeated. "We didn't get a lot of breaks."

The Bulldogs ended their season with a record of 6-12 overall and 3-9 in the West Central Conference North. Three players earned conference honors this year. Seniors Jon Lieser and Chris Rohe earned All Conference recognition, and junior Pat Rohe was named honorable mention.

Paynesville--	100	100	0	- 2	5	1
Howard Lake-Waverly--	000	012	x	- 3	4	2

Paynesville - Batting: Ryan Schneider 2-3 2B R; Nick Stalboerger 1-3 RBI; Chris Rohe 1-3 2B RBI; Pat Rohe 1-4 2B; Jon Lieser 0-2 BB R; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Lieser (L) (5.2-4-3-1-1-5); Jeremy Fuchs (0.1-0-0-0-0-0).

Howard Lake-Waverly - Batting: Josh Burkett 1-3 R; Josh Doerring 1-3 RBI SB; Luke Gagnon 1-3 RBI; Cody Long 1-2 2B R; Pitching: (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) Andy Gagnon (W) (7-5-2-1-1-8).