Hoping to stay inside the top 16 in the 3A rankings to earn a home game in the play-in format of the state tournament, the Bulldogs hit a roadblock on Tuesday afternoon. Hosting 11th ranked Payson, the 14th ranked Winslow baseball team saw a 4-2 lead evaporate over the final three innings in what turned out to be a 6-4 loss to the Longhorns.
Payson got the upper hand early with two first inning runs. Winslow trimmed that margin in half with a run in the second, then caught and passed the visitors with three in the bottom of the fourth, forging the two run lead.
After Payson made it a one run edge with a score in the top of the fifth, they went on top for good with scoring the final three runs of the game in the top of the sixth inning, handing Winslow their sixth regular season loss.
Winslow had just seven hits with Brennan Sawyer going 2 for 4; Solomon Setalla was 2 for 2; Ricardo Villanueva, 1 for 4, as was AJ Huerta; and Welden Gamber went 1 for 3.
Villanueva worked six innings on the hill giving up six runs on 11 hits with six strikeouts and walked four. Sonny Wilbanks worked one inning allowing just one hit with a pair of strikeouts.
Winslow will play at Holbrook on Friday, then travel to Flagstaff on Saturday. Their final regular season game was at home on Monday in Show Low.
The Bulldogs entered the weekend with a regular season mark of 9-6.
