NESHANNOCK TOWNSHIP — Sitting in a good spot late after watching Neshannock rally to take a 3-2 lead, the Redbank Valley Bulldogs baseball team had the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the seventh inning.

And that’s how it finished.

Unable to push home any runs, the Bulldogs had their season ended on a one-out double play ground ball hit by Jaxon Huffman to shortstop Nathan Rickel who flipped second baseman Luca Pagley who then fired to first to nip Huffman by an eyelash.

While the Bulldogs’ season ended at 15-7, the WPIAL champion Lancers take a 20-3 record into Thursday’s PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals against District 10 runner-up Saegertown which advanced with a 7-3 win over Mount Union.

Bulldogs head coach Dave Hepler liked where his team was in the seventh. Ryan Hepler reached on an infield error, Isaac Neiswonger walked an Braylon Wagner reached on flaring single to right that was short-hopped by a sliding rightfielder Anthony Eakin.

However, it stopped there. Brock George grounded to third baseman Joe DiMuccio who threw home to force out Hepler to bring up Huffman and reliever Ryan Cameron, in his fourth inning after relieving starter Denny Joseph in the fourth, induced the game-ending twin-killing.

“I felt really good about it,” said Hepler of the seventh-inning rally. “You could tell the emotion was up, the energy was up with everybody, and they made a couple of good plays on balls put in play. That’s exactly what you want, right? The boys did what asked them to do in that situation. They put the ball in play and Neshannock just made the plays.”

The Bulldogs scored runs in the first and third innings and carried a 2-0 lead into the fifth as Huffman was dealing on the mound. He threw to the minimum batters through four innings on just 39 pitches. The only baserunner to reach was DeMuccio, who singled with two outs in the second but was thrown out trying to steal second.

“That’s crazy numbers of efficiency with four strikeouts on top of that, so that’s exactly what we were looking for,” Hepler said. “If he could give us five or six, we’ll take it, and then bring in our other half, and just they forced our hand a little quicker than we wanted to.”

The Bulldogs struck first in the first inning when Wagner singled with one out, stole second and scored on Huffman’s two-out single. In the third, Neiswonger reached on an infield single and moved up to second on a throwing error on the play. Wagner then followed by roping a double to left.

But that’s all the Bulldogs managed to score, coming up short on a couple two-out at-bats with runners in scoring position before the seventh inning that came up empty.

“Our problem all year, when we have struggled, is really getting that, that two out, that maybe killer punch, if that’s the term you want to use,” Hepler said. “We just, at times, haven’t been able to put teams away, and it’s probably cost us a couple times.”

Neshannock finally got to Huffman in the fifth when Eakin led off with a single, moved to second when Huffman hit Moroz and scored on Antonio Quahliero’s pinch-hit single.

Then in the bottom of the sixth, the Lancers used some small ball to score twice. Rickel doubled to left and moved to third when Pagley’s perfectly placed bunt went between Huffman on the mound and first baseman Brody Ripple who was charging on the play.

Pagley moved up with a steal of second and Cameron’s sacrifice fly to right brought home Rickel to tie it at 2-2. After Wagner replaced Huffman on the mound, Lancers cleanup hitter Eakin followed by laying down a perfectly executed safety squeeze bunt to score Pagley with what turned out to be the game-winning run.

“We called the time out,” Lancers head coach John Quahliero replayed after the game. “I said, ‘You got one strike. If it’s a (good) pitch, I want you to drive it. It’s a new pitcher coming at you. If not, you get one strike and you’re going to lay down a perfect bunt. ‘We went with a safety squeeze, because I didn’t want to go ahead with the suicide squeeze. … and again he executed it.”

NOTES: Huffman took the loss, giving up five hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and no walks in just 68 pitches. … Quahliero made the right call replacing Joseph, his No. 1, with Cameron after three innings. Cameron gave up just three hits and two walks with three strikeouts in four innings and 64 pitches. Joseph will be available for Thursday’s game … Wagner had three of the Bulldogs’ six hits and finished the year with a team-best .478 batting average with 13 doubles and 27 RBIs. He hit safely in all but two games this season. … Huffman finished with a 5-2 pitching record and 1.68 ERA over 58 1/3 innings with just eight walks against 79 strikeouts.