Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Stark starting pitcher Adam Sellner tosses a pitch during the Longhorn’s playoff game against Gibbon Tuesday in Stark. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

By Jake Calhoun

Journal Sports Writer

STARK TOWNSHIP — A botched hidden-ball trick attempt essentially cost the Stark Longhorns a sure ticket to the state amateur baseball tournament, as they lost to the Gibbon Reds 6-5 in 10 innings in a Region 2C playoff game on Tuesday.

Immediately after throwing a wild pitch with the bases loaded to break a 3-3 tie, Stark’s Sean Mathiowetz began signaling that the runner at third base was out with third baseman Tim Seifert holding up the ball in his glove, having tagged the runner. However, the umpire instead called Mathiowetz for a balk, which advanced the runner at third home to give the Reds (1-2) a 5-3 lead with no outs in the top of the sixth.

Mathiowetz went on to pitch five solid innings in getting tagged with the loss, having walked in what turned out to the game-winning run in the top of the 10th. Adam Sellner got the no-decision in five innings pitched for the Longhorns (2-1).

Sellner had a big two-run double in the third inning to give the Longhorns a 3-1 lead after Brandon Helget’s RBI single. However, the Reds capitalized on the Longhorns’ mistakes at multiple points in the game to make things difficult.

Stark hosts top-seeded Lamberton at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Gibbon hosts Hanska at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Fairfax.

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Gibbon 100 112 000 1 — 6 10 1

Stark 003 000 101 0 — 5 9 1

DeRock, Guggisberg (8) and Nachreiner; Ad Sellner, S Mathiowetz and Ja Mangen.

W – Guggisberg (G) 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 58 pitches

L – S Mathiowetz (S) 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 82 pitches

ND – DeRock (G) 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 7 K, 139 pitches

ND – Ad Sellner (S) 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 84 pitches

Leading hitters – Gibbon: DeRock 2-5 1 K, Nachreiner 3-5 1 R, Kerling 2-5 1 RBI 1 R; Stark: S Mathiowetz 2-3 1 R 2 BB, Ad Sellner 2-4 3 RBI 1 BB 2B, Seifert 2-4 1 R 1 BB.