Unusual end to Metea Valley victory

Metea Valley's baseball team woke up from a nightmare like it never happened.

Well, it did happen. The nightmare just wound up not counting.

Officially, the Mustangs edged Neuqua Valley 2-1 in a six-inning Upstate Eight Valley matchup when they rallied by scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth Wednesday in Aurora.

But wait ... there's more.

Neuqua Valley scored 2 unearned runs in the top of the seventh to seemingly reclaim a 3-2 lead, but just before Metea Valley came up to bat in the bottom of the inning the umpires called the game due to darkness.

By calling the game in the middle of the inning, the result reverted to the previously completed inning. That meant the game reverted to the completed sixth inning and a 2-1 victory for Metea Valley.

Got all that? It's a situation that sometimes occurs due to inclement weather but rarely darkness. Umpires typically call games because of darkness at the end of innings and not in the middle.

"That's in the umpires' hands, I'm just not very happy with the way we finished," said Mustangs coach Craig Tomczak. "We've got to make some plays. We've got to be able to manufacture more runs and we've got to be able to close out games."

With Metea Valley (5-1, 1-1) starter Sam Janus and Neuqua Valley (4-3, 1-1) counterpart Alex DiFranco locked in a scoreless duel through four innings, the Wildcats broke through for the game's first run in the fifth on Tyler Tesmond's RBI double.

The Mustangs answered with 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth as Mike Sfikas drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single. Ben Belskis pitched a scoreless top of the sixth to claim the win in relief.

The Wildcats' Will Drake led off the top of the seventh with a single, and two critical errors allowed the tying run to score. Kevin Hutt followed with an RBI single to briefly give Neuqua Valley a 3-2 lead.

Wildcats coach Robin Renner argued with the umpires that the game should continue, but the umpires disagreed. The deciding third game of the series is Thursday, although Renner said Neuqua Valley's administrators would speak with Metea Valley's in the hope of first picking up Wednesday's game in the bottom of the seventh.

"I think there's a chance," Renner said. "Not much of one, but I think there's a chance. I'm going to call everyone I can because that's not right."

Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevin_schmit