MUSCATINE — One inning.

The entire season for the Burlington High School baseball team can be summed up in one inning.

Leading by two runs heading into the bottom of the sixth inning of a Class 4A substate quarterfinal game against Muscatine Saturday at Tom Bruner Field, the Grayhounds trotted five different pitchers to the mound, issued nine free passes, uncorked four wild pitches, committed two errors and surrendered 12 runs.

And it all came with two outs.

By the time the nightmarish inning was over, the Muskies walked away with a 14-4, six-inning run-rule victory over the shell-shocked Grayhounds.

Muscatine (20-14) advances to a substate semifinal to face Cedar Rapids Kennedy (25-12) at 7 p.m. Monday at Kennedy High School. The winner will advance to the substate final to face 10th-ranked Waukee (24-13) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Waukee.

Burlington ends the season with an 18-12 record.

Just four outs away from victory, Burlington saw its entire season come unraveled in a half-inning that took over 30 minutes to play.

“Once they got those two hits and took the one-run lead, I saw the shut down. I tried to talk them through it, especially being down only one run. But it’s hard. We’ve all been there as players. It’s hard not to get down, especially when we were leading the whole game,” BHS coach Griffin Dean said. “Props to (Muscatine). They had a lot of quality at bats and that’s what we preach. We did, too. It’s just that we didn’t execute or have the one-out hit we needed and they did. We had a couple guys on second and third multiple times. I’m not saying that changes the outcome of the game. You have a 12-run inning and that changes a lot of things.”

The game was suspended by weather Friday night with no score and one one out in the bottom of the second.

BHS picked up right where it left off. Senior Evan Hecox was masterful on the mound, allowing just three hits and two earned runs while walking three and striking out seven through five innings.

The Grayhounds played error-free baseball through five innings and catcher Brody Guernsey threw out two would-be base stealers.

Burlington jumped on Muscatine pitcher Cal Hollenbaugh for three runs in the third inning. Ian Mason drew a one-out walk and raced home on a double to right field by Hecox. Michael Kantzavelos followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Courtesy runner Matthew Mercer scored on a ground out by Caden Zaugg and Kantzavelos scampered home on a single to right-center field by Austin Donahoe.

The Grayhounds made it a 4-0 game in the fourth. Cohen Schroeder was hit by a pitch, DeAndre Taylor drew a walk and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Schroeder scored on a sacrifice fly by Mason, but Hecox popped up to end the inning with Taylor stranded on third.

Muscatine cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a pair of walks and two hits.

Hecox retired the Muskies on three strikeouts in the fifth, but was approaching 100 pitches.

Hecox got Declan Maher and Tom Norton on easy ground balls to start the fateful sixth. But Cade Daufeldt worked a walk and Cael Moss singled to left. That put Hecox at the 110-pitch limit, forcing Dean to go to the bullpen.

“That’s the way it is. It’s player safety. I don’t disagree with the rule,” Griffin said of the pitch-count rules. “They’re a good ball club.The big thing is if they can get the pitching, as well. Just like us. They obviously go a little bit deeper than us.”

Donahoe was greeted with consecutive singles to tie the game, but then seemed to extricate the Grayhounds from the jam. Chase Hardman struck out swinging for what would have been the third out. But the ball got away from Guernsey. Guernsey quickly recovered the ball and threw to first baseman Logan Messer. But Hardman was in the path of the ball, preventing Messer from making the catch as another run scored.

Just like that, Muscatine had a 6-4 lead and all the momentum.

Dean argued the call at first base, to no avail.

“You can hear Brody yelling, ‘Out. Out. Out,'” Dean said. “That’s why we have safety bags in high school. When the defense calls out, that means the orange is now ours and the white is now his.”

The inning spiraled out of control from there. By the time it was over, Muscatine had batted through the order twice. Taylor, Mason and Cohen Schroeder followed Donahoe to the mound before Braden Baars walked with the bases loaded to end the game.

None of the final four BHS pitchers recorded a single out.

“What a way to lose,” Dean said. “It hurts.”