EASTHAMPTON — It wasn’t looking good for the No. 28 Easthampton baseball team during the latter stages of Thursday’s MIAA Division 5 state tournament preliminary round game against No. 37 Wareham.

The Eagles trailed 5-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning and struggled to get runners on base to that point.

Then, Easthampton’s offense exploded for six runs that same inning, on a combination of timely base hits and several mental lapses from the Vikings, to take the lead over at 6-5. The Eagles extended their advantage with a couple more runs during the sixth to secure the 8-5 victory on Daley Field in Nonotuck Park.

“I think we really just got pissed,” Easthampton’s Patrick Larson said on what changed during the fifth. “That’s when everything switched and turned toward us. We really wanted the game.”

Easthampton plated its first run of the fifth on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. Larson doubled the Eagles’ total runs scored with a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 5-2 Wareham, before Anthony Incampo snuck a ground ball through the Vikings’ third baseman and shortstop to score two more runs for Easthampton.

A couple of exquisite sacrifice bunts from Ethan Mullaly and Andrew Symolon scored runs five and six for the Eagles in the frame as the hosts erased the Vikings’ healthy lead in a flash. Easthampton coach Ed Zuchowski revealed Thursday’s fifth-inning barrage was likely its best frame of the season.

“It was just time for it to happen,” Zuchowski said. “We’ve been waiting to have a big inning. We don’t put up big numbers like that all that often.”

Incampo brought in two more runs for the Eagles an inning later on a hard-hit base knock into right field for an 8-5 Easthampton lead. Incampo culminated a team-high four RBIs once Thursday’s battle was all said and done.

“I don’t think there was anything much bigger than that hit by [Incampo] late in the game,” Zuchowski said. “It ended up being some insurance runs there for us but it makes a difference. With two outs and guys in scoring position, we’ve left tons of guys in that position before, but to have him hit a ball to right field like we practice day in and day out and score two runs, give our pitcher some breathing room in the seventh, was great.”

Larson took over for Mullaly (three hits, three runs, three walks, three strikeouts in four innings) on the mound during the fifth inning and after initially surrendering two runs during the fifth, the freshman reliever shut the door on the Vikings in the final two frames to earn the win on the bump. Larson was credited with two strikeouts and four hits allowed in three innings of service for the Eagles.

“It was good for the team, good for everyone,” Larson said. “I didn’t want to allow any runs. I wanted us to get the win.”

Larson made an impact with the lumber as well, going 1-for-2 (double) with one RBI. 

“Pat Larson sees the ball really well,” Zuchowski said. “Our guys up in the order are patient hitters and work counts to get pitches that they can either hit or draw a walk on, so that made a difference.”

Jason Sigda (2-for-4, double), Brayden O’Connor (1-for-3, double) and Chris Gallagher (2-for-3) accounted for a bulk of Easthampton’s 10 hits in the prelim-round victory.

The Eagles (7-14) move on to face No. 5 Ware in the Round of 32 on Sunday. First pitch at Memorial Field is set for 7 p.m.

“I think it means that we might be a little bit better than our record shows,” Zuchowski said on what winning a state tournament game means to this group. “We watched the Western Mass. finals [Wednesday], Greenfield played Drury. Greenfield is in our league, we play them twice every year. Pioneer and Hopkins faced off [Wednesday], those two teams are in our league. They’re all high in the standings in the state, that’s our competition all year long. We win six games out of 20, but we’re playing teams that when you make the state tournament, those are the teams that you got to beat to keep advancing. What those teams did for us during the regular season was get us prepared for today’s game so that we could move forward one more.”

Div. 4 prelims

No. 30 Blue Hill Regional Tech 6, No. 35 South Hadley 3 – The Tigers’ season came to an end in eastern Mass. on Thursday with the opening round defeat.

Both squads scored one run during the first inning and that 1-1 mark held until the bottom of the sixth, when the Warriors sent five runs across the plate. 

Logan Carpenter was South Hadley’s best hitter in the loss, going 2-for-4 (double), with two RBIs. Noah Carillon contributed an RBI for the Tigers as well.

South Hadley’s final record came in at 12-8.

Girls tennis

Div. 4 Round of 32

No. 24 Advanced Math & Science 5, No. 9 PVCICS 0 – The Dragons were shut out for the first time all year on Thursday in the Round of 32 loss, ending their season.

The Eagles advanced to the Round of 16 where it’ll either meet No. 8 Nantucket or No. 25 Randolph.

PVCICS concluded the year with a 18-2 record. 

Boys tennis

Div. 2 Round of 32

No. 15 Burlington 4, No. 18 Northampton 1 – The Blue Devils only took one match in their season-ending road defeat. 

Northampton’s team record finalized at 14-3 following Thursday’s loss.

Div. 4 Round of 32

No. 8 Sutton 5, No. 25 Frontier 0 – The Redhawks’ season came to an end following Thursday’s shutout loss. Frontier failed to win a match for the first time all year in the state tournament defeat.

The Redhawks overall record rounded out at 11-5.

Track & field

MIAA Division 5 championship, Day 1

A trio of Belchertown athletes competed in Day 1 of the MIAA Division 5 Championships on Thursday in Westfield, as the Orioles had Aubrey Klingensmith, MacKenzie Burch and Benjamin Les participate in their respective events.

Burch, a junior, set a personal record and finished 20th in the girls 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 1:14.21 to crack the top 20. Les grabbed 22nd in the boys 2 mile, crossing the line in 10:31.98 as the senior wraps up his high school track career.

Klingensmith rounded out the bunch in the 200m prelims. The freshman finished in 27.95, which was good for 23rd. She did not qualify for the final heat. More Belchertown athletes will compete over the weekend at Westfield State.