One bad inning.

For the past few weeks, it is the one facet that has troubled the Northampton baseball team.

In three of their four defeats, the Konkrete Kids have been victimized by the one inning that could easily reverse their record from 5-4 to 8-1.

“It has been 18 of 21 innings,” reflected Kids’ head coach Mick Sugra. “It is a one-run inning. We’re controlling it by putting guys on base. We have to be able to recognize when it happens. We won 18 of the 21 innings.

“It has been a roller coaster for us.”

Their latest loss was a 7-6 loss to Pleasant Valley in which the Kids gave up six runs in the third inning.

Mike Ettl began the game for the Kids, but he gave way due to control issues and a bothersome wrist. Brittain Shander had two of the Kids’ eight hits.

“We beat them (Pleasant Valley) in every facet of the game,” added Sugra. “We outplayed them defensively and outhit them (8 to 5).”

The Kids gave up six runs in the first inning to Allentown Central Catholic in a 7-2 loss and also issued five runs in the fourth inning to Parkland in a 6-3 defeat.

Their other loss was a 10-0 shutout to Emmaus.

Sugra also noted how his team is struggling with situational baseball, mainly leaving people on base. It also has been frustrating for them in several games.

“We have left people on with the bases loaded and with runners on second and third,” he said. “We have hit the ball hard, but right at people. We are hitting the ball, as we still have a bunch of guys hitting over .400.

“We’re a good baseball team, but we are hurting ourselves.”

Sugra is confident his team can shake the stride, but they also have to be aware of their calendar. The Kids have pivotal matchups with Whitehall and Nazareth along with one against Stroudsburg on their schedule this week.

“Whitehall and Nazareth are divisional games,” said Sugra. “If we want to do anything in the EPC (East Penn Conference), those two games are must-haves. We need five more wins to qualify for districts and we have to get it going.

“The kids have been talking about it. They are making the connection and they see it. They’ll have to figure this out on their own. We’ll see what happens this week.”