CONNELLSVILLE -- The deciding game of the first-round playoff series with Bud Murphy's was a microcosm of the entire campaign for Phil's Tire.
A whole lot of pitching and just not enough hitting.
Phil's Tire lost a heart-breaking 3-2 decision to Bud's at Breakneck Field Tuesday in the third game of their best-of-three series.
With the win, Bud Murphy's (21-10) moves on to a second-round best-of-five Fayette County League series with Mill Run, which starts Thursday.
Yesterday, Phil's wasted a solid pitching effort by Ryan Russell, who went into the sixth inning and gave up just three runs on seven hits.
"Ryan pitched a heck of a game," said Phil's manager Dan Palm. "Really, we got great pitching the whole series. We gave up six runs in three games and yet we still got eliminated. That's what is so frustrating.
"But all in all, this was a great game and a great series."
Phil's Tire may have lost, but the visitors didn't go down without one last surge.
Trailing 3-1 in the top of the seventh with one out, Phil's made a move.
Jody Wilkerson reached first on an error by Bud's pitcher Tom Darrell.
After designated hitter Tim Latham grounded out for the second out, Justin Murphy drew a walk.
Bud's manager Tom Sankovich brought in Casey Shultz to pitch to Kenny Musko.
"Shultz is one of my aces," explained Sankovich. "I figured I would bring him in to get the last out of the game."
However, Musko drilled a 3-2 pitch to left for an RBI double that made it 3-2 and put runners on second and third.
Sankovich then brought in Ryan Miscik, who retired Ryan Russell on a grounder to second to end the game.
"It was a really good game ... if you were the one who won it," said a relieved Sankovich.
"They've got a really good bunch of guys on that team," he said of Phil's Tire. "They play us harder than anybody else. Right now, we're surviving on pitching and it's a good thing we got good pitching in this series because we needed it."
The game was scoreless going into the fourth inning when Phil's struck first.
Danny Thomas stroked a double over the third base bag and came home when Shane Molyneau doubled to right.
In the bottom of the fourth, Bud's scored twice as Mark Riggin hit a run-scoring single and Wes Hughes brought home the second tally on a sacrifice fly.
The hosts made it 3-1 in the fifth when Miscik smacked a one-out double over the head of centerfielder Joe Breiter and then Brian Sankovich hit an RBI single to right-center.
"The thing about Miscik's hit was if Ryan Russell were in center field instead of pitching, he makes that catch," said Sankovich. "But that was a tough play for (Breiter)."
That set the stage for Phil's last-inning heroics that came up short.
"You would think when you hold a team to two or three runs, you would win the game, but that's not the way it worked for us n this series," sighed Palm.
"Still, I'm proud that our guys fought hard against a good team."
Going into the off-season, there will be plenty of areas to address for the team, said Palm.
"If we're going to do this next year, we to make some changes," he said. "For starters, my assistant Walt Williams is done and he has pretty much bankrolled this team. He just doesn't have the time to put in it any more.
"And as for the team, we were 19-12 last season and this season we were 13-18. We need to make some changes if we are going to do this again."
