Ryan Acra’s final at-bat during C. Milton Wright’s home contest with Patterson Mill on Thursday began with a pair of exaggerated swings and misses, but it ended with a wild celebration.

Facing crafty left-handed reliever Peter Weber in the bottom of the seventh with two out and the bases loaded, Acra missed badly on both a fastball and off-speed pitch to start the at-bat. However, after working to even the county, the Mustangs second baseman stroked a line drive up the middle to score Ryan Stem from third base and give C. Milton Wright a much-needed 8-7 victory.

“Those first two pitches, they really got me,” said Acra, whose timely hit ended a four-game losing streak for the Mustangs (8-7). “Those swings, very bad swings. I saw a ball high; I was ready for it. Another ball low. I was sitting on a fastball and he gave it to me, and I hit it up the middle.”

The dramatic finish ended a contest that saw the Huskies (8-5) take an early 4-0 lead, only to see the Mustangs rally for a 6-4 advantage before Patterson Mill stormed back for a 7-6 lead in the top of fifth.

“No lead is safe in our league,” Patterson Mill coach Matt Roseland said. “Hats off to them for coming back down 4-0. Hats off to us coming back, making it 7-6. We fought; we gave ourselves a chance. We didn’t make enough plays to win.”

Trailing by a run in the bottom of the sixth, Tyler Adamo (3-for-4, three RBIs, run) belted a run-scoring double to right-center field that just eluded the dive of Huskies center fielder Mason Hemelt to score Dustin Stem with two out to help set up the dramatic finish.

“It was a fastball middle-middle, and I was just looking for something to put in the outfield and get the job done,” Adamo said. “The ball fell, and I got the job done — tied game. We’ve lost a lot of games in a row. We knew coming out here it was going to be a tough game against [Patterson Mill], but we did the job.”

Continuing its productive offensive ways from the day before, a 13-3 win against Bohemia Manor, Patterson Mill opened up a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a run-scoring single up the middle by Brycen Hunter with runners on the corners, then a bases-loaded single by Logan Scheeler that scored two, one on an error in the outfield.

Back-to-back doubles to left field by Tre McInnes and Hemelt pushed the Huskies’ advantage to 4-0 in the top of the third. Hemelt made a bid to score on a passed ball in the inning, but was thrown out at the plate.

Fueled by that play, the Mustangs rallied for a game-tying four runs in the bottom of the third on a two-run double to deep left center field by Adamo, who then scored on a double down the left field line by Kevin Emerson. Emerson later tied the score as a pickoff throw to third base by Huskies catcher McInnes hit off his cleats and rolled out of play.

Patterson Mill looked to retake the lead in the top of the fourth as Hunter and Kevin Hardisky reached on a single and error, respectively, but C. Milton Wright starting pitcher Landon Melnick struck out the next two batters looking before inducing a flyball out to left field to end the scoring threat.

Melnick started the bottom of the inning with a single and reached second base on the play with the Huskies outfield unable to field the ball cleanly. After two straight outs, Dustin Stem doubled to deep center to score Melnick and give the Mustangs a 5-4 lead.

Stem then scored on an errant pickoff throw into center field as Adamo attempted to steal second to give the Mustangs a two-run advantage.

Jayden Stabile trimmed that deficit to 6-5 in the fifth on a run-scoring single to shallow right field. A shallow popup off the bat of Hardisky tied the score and a groundball to left field by Frankie Culotta propelled the Huskies to a 7-6 lead. Hardisky attempted to score on a single to left field by Scheeler, but was thrown out at the plate to limit the damage.

“These moments are where we grow, and I think we got better,” Roseland said. “We’re right there. Even though it’s not the result of a win, our process is starting to show.”

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