That theme continued Wednesday in a matchup between the two teams that again involved plenty of weird plays.

Lakeview made just enough winning plays to hold on for a 6-5 victory in a Northeast-8 Conference battle.

The biggest play — and maybe the oddest — came in the sixth inning.

Hubbard, trailing by one, loaded the bases with no one out. Leadoff hitter Jamie Thomson hit a low line drive right at the third baseman, and it appeared he may have caught the ball on the fly. He didn’t, and with the runner on third unsure if he caught it or not, he retreated back to the bag. He was tagged out by Lakeview third baseman Kevin Ellsworth-Myers, who then stepped on third base for a force out and a huge double play.

Special to the Tribune | Dianna Oatridge Lakeview's Jake Wilms fields a grounder during the Bulldogs' 6-5 victory over Hubbard on Wednesday in Cortland.

Relief pitcher Brendon Kilpatrick followed that by picking off the runner at second base to end the inning.

“I’ll tell you what, that’s probably the first break we caught all season” Lakeview coach Mike Johnson said with a smile. “But, players make plays. That’s how you win baseball games. He made a huge play there. He was aware to tag the base, tag the runner, and we got two outs (with runners on) first and second instead of bases loaded, no outs. Huge play.”

It was one of many in a back-and-forth matchup.

Hubbard (6-10, 2-6) took a 1-0 lead with a two-out, run-scoring single by Jimmy Palumbo in the first inning. Lakeview (5-8, 3-5) tied it in the second when Ellsworth-Myers crushed a double to deep left field. The Bulldogs took the lead in the fourth during another strange set of circumstances.

Lakeview had two on thanks to an error and a single, and after an out, a two-strike pitch by Hubbard’s Joe Barr went to the backstop, allowing one run to score. Then, in the same at-bat, the catcher’s throw back to the pitcher was off line and trickled into center field, allowing a second run to score and giving Lakeview a 3-1 lead.

Special to the Tribune | Dianna Oatridge Hubbard's Joe Barr delivers a pitch during their game against Lakeview on Wednesday in Cortland.

The head-scratching plays were nothing new to Hubbard coach John Schiraldi.

“Unfortunately, that’s the way it’s been going,” he said. “I’ve seen some things happen in the last three games that, and I’ve been doing this a long time, and that (play at third base) is just one of 10 things I’ve seen in three games. Just crazy stuff happening. You’ve just got battle through it and find a way to break through one of these games.”

Hubbard, indeed, continued to battle against Lakeview and ace Austin Vogt.

The Eagles retook the lead in the fifth with a two-out rally. They got two RBI singles and scored the go-ahead run on another odd play. A wild pitch got away from Lakeview’s catcher, and when he couldn’t find the ball as it rolled toward the dugout, the runners moved up an extra base, giving Hubbard a 4-3 edge.

“They don’t quit,” Schiraldi said. “They haven’t quit in a game yet, and they keep playing hard. Unfortunately, right now, we just can’t catch a break.”

Lakeview quickly responded in the bottom half of the fifth.

A walk was followed by a stolen base, a single and another stolen base to put runners on second and third. Kilpatrick singled home one run, and Jake Wilms brought home the second for a 5-4 Lakeview lead.

That set up the bases-loaded situation in the top of the sixth inning. The Bulldogs added a key insurance run in the bottom half of the inning when Nick DeMonica hit a run-scoring single to left field to make it 6-4. It was his second hit of the game.

“I was down 0-1, and I haven’t really hit curve balls that good this year,” said DeMonica, a sophomore. “I was thinking, ‘All right, he’s probably throwing me a curve ball,’ and I just hit it.”

That was big because Hubbard got a double from Lukas Mosora to start the seventh (his third hit of the game). Evan Jarvis walked, and another double brought in Mosora and put the tying run on third with one out, but Kilpatrick induced a fly out to first base and a slow roller to second to close the game out.

“I’ve been in a lot of pressure situations,” Kilpatrick said, “so when there’s runners on base, you’ve just got to slow everything down, calm down, throw strikes and let your guys make the play.”

Johnson, much like Schiraldi, knows the talent is there for his team to turn things around and go on a run. He hopes the current three-game winning streak, which included an eight-inning, one-run win over Hubbard on Tuesday, gets the ball rolling — in the right direction.

“In high school sports, momentum is everything,” Johnson said. “If you’re down, and you get a bad call against you or the ball bounces the wrong way on you, it’s just devastating to the kids. But if things start going your way and you catch some momentum, in the dugout you can feel it, on the field you can feel it, players are more into the game and they just roll with it.”