Rudy Aguado is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism Student aissigned to cover Hamilton High School for AZPreps365.com

CHANDLER - "I can't see the ball!" were the words that provided an omen moments before No. 1-ranked Hamilton suffered a costly defeat to No. 5-ranked Basha on Thursday evening. 

A dropped infield pop-up by first baseman Josh Tiedemnn, blinded by the sunlight  in the bottom of the seventh inning, allowed the winning run to race home in Basha's 7-6 victory.

The Huskies entered Thursday's game with a 12-1 overall record. Hamilton's only loss had come to an out-of-state foe, Reno, earlier in the month in the championship game at the prestigious Boras Classic.

The Huskies also entered the game having defeated the Bears 4-0 at home the day before; Hamilton was looking to sweep the season series against its fellow Chandler rival.

Kole Kleckler was on the mound for the Huskies. The senior pitched six innings and allowed six runs. 

The Huskies led until the bottom of the fifth inning. That's when Max Madrid of the Bears crushed a grand slam off  Klecker to tie the score, 6-6. 

""Klecker is one of the best pitchers in the state of Arizona," said Huskies coach Mike Woods on his perfomance. "They did hit a couple of pitches down, but I have a lot of confidence in him and I am pretty happy with the decisions we made in that situation."

Tanner Holland avoids getting picked off at first, reaches the base safely (Photo by Rudy Aguado/AZPreps365)

The first inning saw both squads squander scoring opportunities. The Huskies stranded two baserunners in the top of the first. In the bottom half of the frame, the Bears loaded the bases but were also unable to bring anyone home.

Hamilton's Cooper Brass led off the top of the second with a single. That was followed by a two-run home run by Logan Saloman to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. 

The next two innings would be outstanding for Klecker as he worked 1-2-3 innings in both the second and third stanzas.

Ryan Kucherak's solo home run extended the Huskies' lead to 3-0 in the top of the third inning. 

In the fourth inning, Hamilton's Prince DeBoskie hit a lead-off single but was caught stealing second base following the base hit. The Huskies were unable to score any runs, and the Bears began their rally in the bottom of that inning.

Jordan Vigil hit a lead-off single off Klecker's first pitch. The next batter, Max Madrid, hit an RBI double to score the Bears' first run of the game. Madrid would then score a run off a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 3-2.  

The Huskies answered back in the top of the fifth inning. Gavin Turley smoked an RBI double, bringing home Holland to make it a 4-2 Huskies lead. The next batter, Roch Cholowsky, hit an RBI single to score Turley, extending the Huskies' lead to 5-2. 

Following a Bear pitching change, Cholowsky scored from third base off a wild pitch. The Huskies led 6-2, but that lead did not last for long. 

Madrid had his unforgettable moment of the day when he hit the grand slam off  Klecker, changing the complexion of the game. A four-run lead for the state's top-ranked team was now a contested deadlocked at 6-6. 

The Huskies had a chance in the sixth inning to regain the lead, but stranded two runners on base.

In the top of the seventh inning, Kucherak hit a pop-up to left field that was dropped and reached second base. But he, too, would be stranded on the base paths.

Will Schelor took the mound for the Huskies in the bottom of the seventh inning as Klecker was done for the day. 

The Bears quickly put two runners on base to start their half of the inning. Huskies first basemen Josh Tiedemann was unable to see the ball due to direct sunlight hitting his face which resulted in a walk-off error. The Bears defeated the Huskies 7-6.  

Coach Woods said his team played well, but little mistakes cost them the game. 

"We played a solid game, they had a couple of big swings of the bat that changed everything," Woods said. "What happened at the end was pretty was pretty unfortunate but we will be back because you know, it's just one game."

"It's disappointing but you know, our goal is not to be undefeated," Woods said. "We play the toughest schedueles in the state, so one game did not go our way we move on to the next game. It is not a big deal."

The Huskies and the Bears could potentially meet again during the playoffs, but Woods say he is not concerned with the playoffs at the moment. 

"We are not talking about a playoff rematch," Woods said. "They are a very good team, we always have battled with these guys, they are one of are rivals but we don't really pay attention to rankings, we are more worried about out next game."

The Huskies (12-1) will face off against their rivals from up the street, Chandler (14-3-1), on Friday evening, their third game in as many days.