Just like it had in almost every game of the entire Colt World Series, Hoosier North let the drama play out during its final at-bat in the last inning of its 2-1 semi-final loss to eventual champion McAllen, Texas last Tuesday night at Loeb Stadium.

If not for two very close umpire calls that by most accounts could have gone either way, it would have been Hoosier North playing Puerto Rico in the Gold Medal championship game the following night.

The controversial calls began during Hoosier North's seventh inning rally with runners on both first and second base and no outs. Jon Tierney attempted a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position and put the would-be game-tying run at third base.

But instead of getting the sure out at first base, McAllen first baseman Jorge Salinas, Jr. fielded the bunt and whirled and made a perfect throw to third base that pinch-runner Grant Ream appeared to beat. But Ream was called out to leave runners at first and second base with one out.

After a strikeout for the second out, leadoff batter Tanner Rosenbarger lined a sharp single into left field. It looked to be enough to score Steven Rice from second base with the game-tying run, but Rice was called out at home plate after another perfect throw that definitely beat him. He appeared to slide around the tag with the catcher tagging him with his glove hand while the ball was separated in his throwing hand.

In the end, both calls on the two bang-bang plays stood, and Hoosier North was left to wonder what might have been after taking yet another thriller into its final at-bat.

McAllen went on to defeat Puerto Rico 12-2 in the championship game.

This year's Colt World Series marked a significant turnaround for Hoosier North, which entered the tournament with a 3-14 record since 2002 and had lost 11-in-a-row before finally beating Greensboro, N.C., 3-2 in come-from-behind fashion on Saturday.

Delphi's Neil Snoeberger started at second base as he had all series for Hoosier North. While neither Delphi's Tanner Cripe nor Austin Hawn saw duty in the finale, both did see significant playing time throughout the summer.