Houston was three outs away from an impressive victory against a state-ranked opponent.
Instead, the Tigers were left with another painstakingly close loss.
After senior Trevor Merckling’s hustle around the basepaths gave HHS a one-run lead, Hartville scored three times in the top of the seventh inning to rally past the Tigers 7-5 Monday afternoon.
It was another close loss for Houston, which fell to 0-6 in games decided by two runs or less. Four of those defeats were to state-ranked teams. Hartville is third in Class 2.
Senior Devin Coulter had four of the Tigers’ eight hits and scored twice. Tanner Cantrell was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
Coulter struck out seven batters and walked one in six innings. He gave up six hits and two earned runs. Aaron Cantrell, who surrendered three hits and three runs in relief, took the loss.
Houston (9-9) took a first-inning lead and held the advantage until Hartville pulled even at 4-all in the sixth.
With two outs in the bottom half of the inning, Merckling’s hustle gave HHS another lead. After walking on five pitches, Merckling stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch. When the catcher’s throw rolled into short left field, Merckling sprinted down the baseline and slid safely into home to put Houston ahead 5-4.
But the lead didn’t last.
Hartville’s first three batters in the seventh inning reached on hits and scored as Hartville rallied for the win.
BOX SCORE
HARTVILLE 7, HOUSTON 5
| 123 | 456 | 7 | R | H | E | ||
| Hartville | 000 | 202 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 1 | |
| Houston | 101 | 021 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 4 |
HOUSTON (ab-r-h-bi) – Devin Coulter p 4-2-4-0. Kolby Walker 1b 2-0-1-1. Tanner Cantrell 3b 4-0-2-2. Whitley Welch c 4-0-0-0. Aaron Cantrell cf 4-0-0-0. Trevor Merckling 2b 2-1-0-0. Stetson Welch dh 1-1-0-0. Ethan Kelley ss 1-1-0-0. Totals 26-5-8-3.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |
| Coulter | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| ACantrell, L | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 |