Central starting pitcher Coltin Harbaugh and the defense behind him had limited Huntingdon to two singles through four full innings and two outs into the fifth.

Unfortunately, things began to unravel for the Scarlet Dragons at that point as the Bearcats pushed across eight unanswered runs over the next 1• innings.

Trailing by five, Central mounted a rally in the top half of the seventh before the Dragons fell two runs short in an 8-6 loss on Thursday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field in the Altoona Curve Classic.

“We can always build on that (late rally),” Central coach A.J. Hoenstine said. “We’re finding our way. We’re 3-4 and we’ve lost to four really good arms. That’s the kind of arms you’ve got to beat to win playoffs games and advance.”

Leading 3-0 and with the first two batters retired in the fifth, Central gave up a single to left by Ethan Reck. Reck raced all the way home when Brock Bryson hit a double over the head of Dragons’ left fielder Kade Robison that rolled to the wall.

After Matthew Gutshall was hit by a pitch, the second hit batter by Harbaugh on the night, Erick Rupert smacked his third single of the contest back up the middle under the glove of second baseman Josh Beltz who made a diving attempt.

The single chased Bryson home to shrink the Dragons’ advantage down to 3-2.

Evan Edmiston flew out to Robison to end the bottom half of the fifth.

In the sixth, the Scarlet Dragons got Jesse Muthler and Harbaugh on base with two outs following a hit by pitch and single up the middle. However, for the third inning, Central left two runners on base as Beltz fouled out.

Huntingdon began the sixth as relief pitcher Luke Mykut worked a walk then advanced to second on a wild pitch by the Dragons’ reliever Colton Porecca.

After a sacrifice bunt by Grady Clark moved Mykut to third, Tyler Banks bumped him home on a single to right to knot the score at 3-3.

Rylen Morningstar walked, while Reck reached on an error by Central shortstop Wyatt Dilling that allowed Banks and Morningstar to touch home to put the Bearcats in front 5-3.

Bryson and Gutshall both earned walks before coming in to score when the next batter, Rupert hit into a fielder’s choice to third baseman Cody Clapper.

Clapper fired home to force out Reck and then catcher Troy McNichol tried to put out Rupert at first but the throw sailed into right field which allowed Bryson and Gutshall to touch home plate to make the score 7-3.

With Clapper in to pitch, Evan Edmiston singled to left to drive in Rupert as the last Bearcats run in the evening to set the score at 8-3.

“We put a rally together — I think it was the fifth and sixth — and pushed across eight runs,” Huntingdon coach Jon Mykut said. “We didn’t quit, we kept coming at them. That’s a sign of a good baseball team. You’re not playing your best on defense but you’ve got to pick it up on the other side of the plate.”

With Central down to its last opportunity, McNichol laced a pitch back up the middle with one out, and then moved to second on a groundout by Clapper back to the pitcher.

Mason Sparks came through with an RBI single to left, which scored McNichol, and took an extra base on the wide throw home from Edmiston.

Adam Loucks tucked a double down the left third base line to allow Sparks to score to make it 8-5.

Brody Mellott singled to center to chase Loucks home in dramatic fashion.

Loucks stumbled going around third and then headed for home but got hung up. He headed home and the throw to the plate by Bearcat pitcher Mykut was dropped by catcher Dom Peruso though it was initially called out.

After the two officials got together, it was determined the ball was dropped and not recovered in time before Loucks touched home to pull Central within two at 8-6.

Coach Mykut inserted a reliever into the game in Gutshall who needed just four pitches to strike out Jesse Muthler swinging to end the game.

“We’ve got to keep getting better and we’ll do our best (going forward) to do that,” Hoenstine said.

Central meets Philipsburg-Osceola today at 12:30 p.m., while Huntingdon faces Altoona at 5:30 with the championship game slated for 8 p.m.

CENTRAL (6): Dilling as 310, McNichol c 401, Clapper 3b-p 401, Sparks 1b 322, Loucks cf 411, Mellott dh 401, Robison lf 000, Muthler rf 301, Harbaugh p 302, Decker cr 000, Porecca p 000, Dickson 3b 000, Beltz 2b 300. Totals — 31 6 9.

HUNTINGDON (8): Morningstar dh 210, Peruso c 000, Reck rf 411, Bryson p-1b 211, Gutshall as-p 210, Rupert 3b 413, Edmiston lf 401, Herncane 1b 100, Mykut p 010, Clark 2b 300, Banks cf 311. Totals — 25 8 7.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Central 012 000 3 — 6 9 1

Huntingdon 000 026 X — 8 7 5

E–Dilling, Edmiston 2, Clark, Gutshall, Peruso. 2B–Dilling, Bryson. RBI–Sparks 2, Loucks, Mellott, Muthler, Rupert 3, Reck 2, Bryson, Edmiston, Banks. SB–Morningstar 2, Rupert, Edmiston. WP–Porecca 3, Harbaugh.

PITCHING

Central

Harbaugh — 5 innings, 5 H, 4 K, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 ER, 93 pitches.

Porecca (L) — 1/3 innings, 1 H, 0 K, 3 BB, 5 R, 5 ER, 33 pitches.

Clapper — 2/3 innings, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 ER, 13 pitches.

Huntingdon

Bryson — 5 2/3 innings, 5 H, 6 K, 2 BB, 3 R, 2 ER, 104 pitches.

Mykut — 1 inning, 4 H, 0 K, 0 BB, 3 R, 3 ER, 23 pitches.

Gutshall — 1/3 innings, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 pitches.

Records: Central (3-4); Huntingdon (5-2).