HUGHESVILLE–If it could, Hughesville still would not change its hitting approaches Tuesday against Bald Eagle Area. It would not change the swings, nor the quality contact it made.

Hughesville simply would change the results.

Baseball can be a cruel game and the Spartans learned that as well-hit balls kept being drilled right at defenders or finding those hustling defenders’ gloves on the run. As a result, Riley Bucha threw a three-hit complete game and BEA defeated Hughesville, 4-1 at Bodine Park. Isaac Johnson hit a go-ahead, two-run, two-out, second inning double and Bucha did not allow a run over the final six innings, taking a no-hitter into the fifth despite striking out just one batter.

“It’s frustrating, but the unfortunate reality of it is, that’s baseball,” Hughesville coach Chris Kish said. “You can’t be bitter about it because the reality is that sometimes is the way the cookie crumbles.”

Hughesville (8-7) never crumbled despite repeated rockets becoming outs. A team which has charged back into playoff contention following a 2-5 start and which rallied from four down in the seventh inning the previous day to defeat Bloomsburg, 8-7, went down fighting.

The dugout remained energetic the entire game, Gage Webb and Blake Babb combined on a four-hitter and Hughesville brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning. Chip Fowler worked a two-out walk before Dylan McConnell (2 for 3) laced a two-strike single.

The Spartans were a batter from flipping the lineup to Jed Abernatha, hitting .400, but the ending reflected the entire game. Babb smashed a liner into shallow center field which looked like it would fall in for a single. Instead, Teagun Runkle covered ample ground and made a super running catch, sealing victory.

“I just wanted to put it in the zone and let him hit it. I trust my defense. I trust my team,” Bucha said after throwing his first complete game. “The outfield was awesome. They can all move really well. Them running around and catching flyballs like that gives you a boost.”

“That’s what we were talking about in that moment, just simply passing the baton and giving him (Abernatha) a chance,” Kish said. “I said all game long I felt like someone was going to leave the yard because of the swings we were putting on the ball. I felt like if we got Jed up, we had an opportunity and it just didn’t work out.”

Abernatha and Babb were two of several Spartans who scorched liners and/or deep flyballs. Bucha pounded the zone and pitched to contact and his speedy outfielders, as well as a bold strategy, made it work. BEA positioned its outfielders mighty deep and balls which normally might go over fielders’ heads for extra-base hits turned into long outs.

Couple that with Johnson’s clutch hit putting BEA ahead in the second inning, and the Eagles (13-4) had just enough to continue their excellent season, winning for the 12th time in 14 games.

“We played some quality opponents and started 1-2 and, as a coaching staff, we instilled belief in them that you are a good ball team and got them to believe in each other and play for each other and be unselfish and pick each other up, and we’ve been able to do that,” BEA coach Ryan MacNamara said. “We’re playing good ball. There’s always stuff to clean up but as we get toward playoffs we’re starting to jell and hopefully, we’ll take that into postseason.”

The postseason felt like a long shot for Hughesville following a five-game losing streak which left it at 2-5. A team ravaged by injuries and adversity, though, has stormed back, beaten a series of tough teams and moved within two victories of a return trip.

The fight which has fueled the turnaround was evident Tuesday but there were some small mistakes which loomed large. Nine walks and a hit batter created opportunities for BEA as did a defensive miscue in the fifth inning which led to two runs scoring without a hit and making it a 4-1 game.

Still, the good outweighed the bad. Either way, Hughesville is not looking back, just ahead to the next game Thursday.

“Our kids battled. We have to get two of our last five and find a way to get into the playoffs and anything can happen if you get to the playoffs,” Kish said. “I think we can be a dangerous team, but we still have to clean up mistakes.”

BEA made two in the first inning and Hughesville pounced. Abernatha and Landen Puderbach reached on errors and Wynter Foglemen moved Abernatha to third before Josiah Abernatha’s sacrifice fly gave Hughesville a 1-0 lead.

Johnson, though, made it a short-lived lead. Following a walk and Bucha double, Johnson drilled a two-run, two-out double into the right-center field gap and BEA went ahead to stay, 2-1.

“Isaac has a good approach. Especially with a lefty, you want to stay to that right-center and Bucha and Isaad did a great job not pulling off the ball and staying on it,” MacNamara said. “We were able to capitalize on some of that stuff to get some runs there.”

Webb has enjoyed a breakout season and the sophomore delivered in big spots as did Babb. They combined to limit BEA to one hit in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position. Webb struck out five in 4 1/3 innings and Babb four in 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

Webb left five runners on base in the third and fourth innings and Babb stranded three more the last two innings, closing each with a strikeout.

Webb and Babb kept Hughesville in the game, but Bucha and his defense would not let them to come back and win it. So, while the Spartans felt frustration, Bucha experienced exhilaration.

“It’s amazing,” Bucha said. “That’s awesome pitching a complete game like that.”

BEA 020 020 0–4 4 2

Hughesville 100 000 0–1 3 2

Riley Bucha and Hayden Stimer. Gage Webb, Blake Babb (5) and Kyler Solomon. W–Bucha. L–Webb.

Top BEA hitters: Takoda Ripka 2-4; Isaac Johnson 1-2, 2B, 2 RBIs; Bucha 1-2, 2B, BB, RBI, R. Top Hughesville hitters: Dylan McConnell 2-3; Wynter Foglemen 1-3; Josiah Abernatha RBI.

Records: BEA 13-4. Hughesville 8-7.