Patterson Mill's road to the Class 2A state baseball title came to an end Tuesday in Montgomery County.
The Huskies were sent home for the season by Eastern Tech, which scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, for a 2-1 semifinal win at Montgomery Blair High School.
"Tough pill to swallow in such a meaningful game," Huskies coach Matt Roseland said. "We simply did not play our best today and it wasn't meant to be."
Huskies pitcher Jeff Noss was the tough luck losing pitcher in a complete game effort. Noss allowed just three hits and a walk, while striking out seven. Patterson Mill committed three errors, which aided the two unearned runs.
Patterson Mill took the lead in the third inning. Noss singled and was replaced with courtesy runner Todd Campo, who stole second base. Brett Michaels came up with a two-out RBI to score Campo.
Noss was rolling along until the fifth, when his throwing error allowed Riley Hodge to reach safely. Ian Tokofsy then bunted and the Huskies defense threw another ball away at first, allowing the Mavericks to tie the game. The Huskies had Tokofsky picked off on a throw-behind from the catcher, but he ended up taking third base on yet another bad throw.
Noss struck out the next batter, but the Mavericks safety squeezed in the eventual winning run with Tommy Kessler laying down the bunt.
Billy Benson doubled to lead off the seventh inning, but the Huskies could not get the timely hit to get him in with the tie run.
"We left 12 guys on base this game and just didn't get the hit that would have broken it up multiple times," Roseland said. "With Jeff on the mound, one hit at any part of the game makes the outcome different, we just didn't earn that one hit. We left bases loaded in the first inning, second and third in the second inning, a guy on third in the fourth inning, bases loaded in the fifth inning and second and third in the seventh inning."
The Huskies season ends at 15-8.