When the District 11 baseball semifinal game against Liberty went extra innings, fans had to figure that Emmaus had a bit of an advantage. After all, the Hornets were the team that battled Parkland to a 16-inning, 1-0 win during the regular season, so playing longer games was nothing new to them.

The Baseball Gods had other ideas on Monday as Liberty erased a two-run deficit with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat Emmaus 4-3 and end the Hornets’ season.

In a game marked by big defensive plays, including a diving catch by Eric Cichocki as good as any you’ll see from a high school player on a foul pop, ironically, Liberty got a stay of execution on a pop-up that should have been caught in shallow left field. Jared Burcin hit a soft fly ball to left with a runner on first and two outs in the 11th, and it looked like Emmaus’ celebration was just seconds from getting underway.

Then, as two fielders converged on the spot where the ball would be caught, neither made the play. Instead, the ball fell in and Kyle Hlavaty, who took off from first when the ball was hit, scored on the play to tie the game 3-3.

With a new life, Elias Gross lined a shot to right-center field to drive in Burcin and start the celebration on the Liberty side of the field.

“During the game, we felt good because we had that 16-inning game against Parkland and this felt just like that, so that was nothing new,” said coach Mike Mihalik. “This is just a heartbreaking way for that to end.”

In another touch of irony, the rally started after Emmaus reliever Todd Moxey got the first two outs of the inning. Hlavaty reached base on a walk, leading to the heroics from Burcin and Gross.

Emmaus fell behind 1-0 in the first inning, but tied the game in the fourth when Moxey led off with an infield single and one out later scored on a double from Austin Robertson. The game remained tied with starting pitchers Matt Lanzone for Emmaus and Liberty’s Alex Super posting zeros on the scoreboard. Super left in the sixth and Lanzone exited in the seventh because of the PIAA rule limiting pitchers to 100 pitches. From there, the bullpens went to work, with Emmaus breaking through first.

In the 10th inning, Hurricane reliever Alex Laudenslager got the first two outs in the inning before Wyatt Henseler grounded a single to left. A single from Taden Gery followed by one from Moxey scored pinch-runner Randy Weldon to make it 2-1 Emmaus. Liberty got to reliever Adam LeMaster in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, but Emmaus was determined to put the pressure back on the Hurricanes.

Just as Emmaus had done in the fourth, it got a leadoff single to start the rally. This time, it was Robertson delivering. Jake Hahn bunted Robertson to second and a base-hit from Zach Schrader put runners on the corners with one out for Evan Marushak. The junior outfielder hit a shot that glanced off Laudenslager for an infield single and allowed Robertson to score from third as the Hornets took a 3-2 lead.

Moxey got the first two outs in the 11th before disaster struck and the Hurricanes went on to win, advancing to the District 11 Championship.

Mihalik, who finished his third season as coach of Emmaus, saluted the 11 senior players for what they’ve accomplished and how they’ve played.

“They’ve done everything I’ve asked of them for three years,” said Mihalik. “This is as brutal as it gets as a way to end the season. They did everything the right way. That’s one thing about this program this year: we played the game the right way and did everything the right way. The seniors performed today.

“If you look at the seniors that played today, they all seemed to have a big moment and I’m happy for them that they got to have that moment, but disappointed for them that it ends this way.”