The Royal Oak Leprechauns suffered one of the most heartbreaking losses imaginable on Wednesday night, falling to the Lakeshore Chinooks, 12-11. 

“I haven’t really been a part of anything like that,” Leprechauns head coach Jonathan Vance said. 

Royal Oak’s AJ Kostic hit what appeared to be a walk-off, two-RBI single to shallow right field. The Leprechauns had the bases loaded with two outs while being down by a run. 

Unfortunately, Kostic got hurt on the swing, and stayed down just behind home plate. Eventually, he made a late attempt to try and reach first base, jumping up and down on his left foot. 

With the ball near home plate on a throw from Lakeshore’s Edan Perez, it appeared that catcher Dominic Kibler tagged out Kostic about ten feet up the baseline. 

But the umpires were not looking. It appeared that they had assumed that the game was over and Royal Oak had won. 

Kostic continued to hobble towards first, still not called out yet. 

Eventually, a throw was made to first base and Lakeshore first baseman Sam Hunt touched first just before Kostic reached right in front of all three umpires. Kostic was initially called safe by first base umpire Anthony Atkinson.

Lakeshore interim manager Eddy Morgan protested, and the umpires had a game-deciding discussion. 

Eventually, they reached a final decision. Atkinson gave the out sign, allowing Lakeshore to celebrate. 

Vance said postgame that the umpires made the correct call. 

The game was already a wild one. The Leprechauns committed seven errors and walked nine. Lakeshore ended up scoring its 12 runs on just five hits. 

The losing pitcher, Kyle Dixon, threw six innings in relief, giving up just one hit, striking out six, and not allowing an earned run. 

The Chinooks started out hot, going up 5-0 after two innings. Then, Royal Oak’s offense caught fire for the first time this year, going on a 9-1 run over three innings to grab a three-run lead. 

Caden Duryea started the run in the third with an RBI double, followed by a Michael Lareau RBI single. 

Royal Oak added three more in the fourth, with two coming in on the first-ever home run for the team in the Northwoods League by Ryan McKay. 

Riley Frost had a two-RBI double in the fifth to grab a 7-6 lead. Evan Bottone padded the lead later in the inning with a two-out, two-RBI single.

A three-run lead was nothing for Lakeshore. The Chinooks, coming off a seven-run comeback the night before, tied it with three in the top half of the sixth. They had just one hit in the frame. 

After reaching a 9-9 tie, with each inning including at least one run, no one scored until extra innings. 

Each team put up one run in the 10th and 11th innings. Lakeshore scored its eventual winning run on a sacrifice fly by Zan Von Schlegell in the 12th. 

The two teams will meet again on Thursday morning in what will be a game with an extremely weird act to follow. First pitch is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. Royal Oak will then play a doubleheader Friday against the Kokomo Jackrabbits.