Northampton could not overcome an early deficit, falling to Hellertown, 6-3, at home on Monday

in NorCo Legion baseball.

Hellertown jumped out on top with two runs in the first inning and built a 4-0 lead that proved too much for Northampton to overcome.

“This was a tough one,” said Bill Hughes, Northampton manager. “They hit the ball and I do not think our kids played a bad game. It just did not go our way today. Our pitching did fine. Fielding was fine. We just have to learn to get the bats going earlier.”

Three straight one-out hits gave Hellertown its two first inning runs. After Ronald Hernandez tripled with one out, Mac Gilman singled home Hernandez for the game’s first run. Phil Taylor followed with a double to bring Gilman around to score, making it 2-0.

It stayed 2-0 until the fifth inning as Northampton could not get much going offensively against Landon Huber, Hellertown’s starting pitcher.

“Playing down, obviously, is a much tougher situation than when you are up,” Hughes said. “We need to get the energy up and come out right from the get go.”

Huber retired 10 of the first 11 hitters he faced, surrendering only a first-inning walk to Aidan Sugra.

Northampton got its first hit in the bottom of the fourth inning when Gavin Caravallo doubled with one out.

Caravallo reached third on a wild pitch and a walk to Zack Hartzell put runners on the corners with two out. However, Charles Burrell flew out to right field to end the threat.

Hellertown added two more runs in the top of the fifth inning. Hernandez tripled again with one out and scored on another Gilman single. Gilman came around to score when Northampton had an errant throw attempting to end the inning with a ground ball double play, giving Hellertown a 4-0 lead.

Northampton battled back in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring twice.

Tyler Biechy reached on an error to lead off the inning and then stole second base. Noah Kline singled to bring home Biechy. After Quinn Hughes walked, Brayden Giandomenico drew a walk off of Hellertown relief pitcher Brady Flores to load the bases. Caravallo drew another walk to bring Kline home. However, Flores got Sugra to pop out to first to end the Northampton threat.

“These guys are persistent,” Hughes said. “They will battle.”

Hellertown added two more runs in the sixth inning, scoring both with two outs. Hernandez’s third hit of the game, a single, brought home Eli Szlachtianshyn and Connor Albert, who had both singled, to make it 6-2, Hellertown.

Northampton got one final run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hartzell walked, stole second and came around to score on a Connor Muth single, making it 6-3.

However, Hellertown’s Jake Eshleman pitched a scoreless seventh inning to close out the game.

On the mound for Northampton, Biechy pitched five innings and allowed four runs. Giandomenico allowed two runs in 1 ⅔ innings, and Connor Muth pitched the final ⅓ inning for Northampton.

The loss dropped Northampton back to .500 on the season at 5-5-1, with one game to play. Northampton had to win that game to make the playoffs with a .500 or better record.

The game was scheduled for Wednesday at Freemansburg. A score was not available at press time.