Rare is the baseball game where a team scores eight runs in an inning (especially when the game’s length is seven regulation innings) and gets beat.

Yet that’s what happened to the Hamilton Emerald Knights in last Monday’s clash with Waterville, as struggles early and late led to a 12-11 loss to the Indians.

Unable to get people out, Hamilton pitcher Kinnon Nolan-Finkel watched as Waterville got five total runs in the second and third innings to move ahead.

Then came the fourth, a long affair where the Emerald Knights (11-5) batted around and didn’t stop until it had plated eight runs and took an 8-5 lead. Just as quickly, though, Hamilton gave it away as the Indians put up six runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Even with 10 hits, including Jack Sullivan’s double, Hamilton hurt itself with five errors, as compared to Waterville’s one.

Two days earlier, Hamilton won its own tournament, scoring 27 total runs to conquer Brookfield and Remsen along the way.

In the first round, the Emerald Knights bashed the Beavers 10-1, and Sullivan did everything, getting a six-inning stint on the mound and hurting Brookfield with four hits and six RBIs before it was over. Dan Meeks added a pair of doubles.

The 17-10 final against Remsen was far more difficult. Up 9-2 at one point, the Emerald Knights blew that lead as the Rams stormed ahead 10-9, but in the bottom of the sixth Hamilton atoned by batting around and earning eight runs to clinch it.

Ben Yacavone and Lucas Rhyde each had three hits, with Sullivan, Nolan-Finkel and Meeks earning doubles. Nolan-Finkel, pitching in relief of Rhyde, earned the win.

All this gave Hamilton a sustained win streak — but that ended in Thursday’s regular-season finale, courtesy of West Canada Valley, who beat the Emerald Knights 5-3.

The Indians scored twice in the first inning, but Don Philhower shut them down over the next five frames. This gave Hamilton time to rally — which it did, getting a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to inch ahead 3-2.

Needing three outs for the win, Philhower and Nolan-Finkel could not get them, as WCV tagged them for three runs in the seventh. Jack Minasi pitched for the Indians, overcoming eight walks by limiting Hamilton to four hits, two of them doubles by Meeks.

Hamilton, as the no. 9 seed in the Section III Class D playoffs, meets no. 8 seed Sackets Harbor in the first round, with the winner to play top seed New York Mills in Thursday’s quarterfinals.