MUSKEGON  – After a full day of playing great baseball, the Fruitport Trojans found themselves three outs away from their second straight Greater Muskegon Athletic Association tournament championship.

They scratched out a 1-0 lead over Mona Shores through six innings of the title game at Muskegon’s Marsh Field.

The Sailors, though, had some fight left in them. A leadoff home run in the seventh  – the lone blemish to a marvelous pitching performance from Fruitport’s Hudson Hazekamp – sent the game to extra innings.

Then Mona Shores grinded out a pair of two-out runs in the ninth and handed the Trojans a disappointing 3-1 loss.

It was a sour end to a strong day of baseball for the Trojans, who reached the finals with a 3-0 win over Oakridge and a 13-3 victory over Reeths-Puffer.

Fruitport Coach Nick Reed said his team played up to its potential en route to the runner-up finish.

“We were winning games on talent and not really playing up to our standard,” Reed said about his team’s performance prior to Saturday. “We pushed them on Friday, and they came out and did a lot of great things today.

“We battled, we had opportunities, they just made one more play than we did. That’s a good team. If we play like this, we’re going to do some good things.”

Pitching was the story for both sides in the title game, with Hazekamp facing off against Mona Shores junior Owen Tornga, who is recently committed to pitch for the University of Louisville.

Tornga was dominant, with eight strikeouts and no hits allowed in 3 2/3 innings, but Hazekamp came up big as well. The junior pitched into the ninth, finishing with eight innings of one-run ball while allowing just two hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.

“That’s one of the gutsiest performances I’ve seen out of a high schooler,” Reed said about Hazekamp’s effort. “We’ve had some great pitchers…this is better. He threw a hell of a game.”

The Trojans made several big defensive plays behind Hazekamp, including tough catches by Liam Campbell and Wyatt Fielstra in the outfield and a pair of plays by Satchel Norwood at shortstop.

Norwood, normally the team’s second baseman, charged a slow roller that he barehanded and fired to first for an out to start the sixth, and made a heads-up play to cut down a runner at third in extra innings. Both times the out represented the go-ahead run.

“Satchel stepped up phenomenally,” Reed said. “Satchel has been a really big player for us. He’s kind of a quiet, unassuming guy, he’s just always there and makes the plays.”

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning.

Avery Lambers led off with a single for Fruitport, then advanced to second on a bunt by Norwood. The Sailors intentionally walked Trevor Rusnak to face Hazekamp, who singled to score Lambers and put the Trojans up 1-0.

A double play ended the inning, stranding another run at third.

Jayden Ammeraal, who had the only Sailor hit through six innings way back in the second, led off the seventh with the biggest swing of the game – a solo homer to left to knot the score at 1-1.

The score remained tied heading to the ninth, which is the second extra inning in high school baseball. Hazekamp walked Ammeraal to start the frame, with ball four getting past the catcher to the backstop and Ammeraal advancing to second.

Rusnak then relieved Hazekamp on the mound, got a strikeout, then got Mona Shores’ Max Silva to hit a fielder’s choice grounder to Norwood at short, who threw to third to get the lead runner. That left Silva on first with two outs.

Mona Shores’ Grady Gawkowski then doubled with two strikes to score Silva, making the score 2-1. The next batter struck out, but the ball got away from the catcher on the third strike, allowing the batter to reach first safely and Gawkowski to score from third, making it 3-1.

Rusnak singled to start the Fruitport ninth, but Mona Shores pitcher Julian Thielbar retired the next three batters to end the game. Thielbar allowed just one run in 5 1/3 innings of relief for the Sailors.

The Trojans managed four hits in the championship game – singles from Lambers, Rusnak, Hazekamp and Garrett Olson.

Mona Shores had just three hits, a double and a homer from Ammeraal and a double by Gawkowski.

Fruitport is now 13-3 on the season and will return to action with a conference doubleheader against Calvin Christian on May 6.