The wheels came apart for Brockway Mechanical during the fifth inning of Thursday's 11-3 opening-round loss to Southern New Jersey in the Middle Atlantic Senior Babe Ruth regionals.

Walks and hit batsmen led to six runs being scored as Southern New Jersey broke a 3-all tie and went on to the win.

"We were down, 3-0, in the third inning and battled back to tie it," said Brockway Mechanical head coach Randy Lozier.

"I thought we had turned the corner, but then we couldn't find the strike zone in the fifth inning. They scored their first five runs in the inning without a hit."

Southern New Jersey took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the third when Brockway Mechanical, representing the Adirondack Region in New York State, got one of the runs back when Billy Bower bunted for a hit and scored on Donny LaPorte's double.

Then in the bottom of the fourth, Brockway tied it. Mark Eggleston reached on an error, Michael Howard singled, Cody Wood singled and Steve Mills rapped a two-run double, Brockway had a runner thrown out on the bases prior to Mills' double.

Brockway starter Justin Besaw, who took the loss, and reliever Kellen Loughan, however, couldn't find the strike zone in the decisive fifth inning.

"Besaw had a rough time of it with his control and so did Loughan when he came in to relieve," Lozier said.

"Cody Wood took over in the sixth inning and did a nice job. But, by then, it was too late."

Both teams had six hits in the contest.

Brockway Mechanical plays in a loser's bracket game today in the double-elimination event against Delaware at 4 p.m.

Southern N.J. 11, Brockway 3

Southern N.J. 201 061 1 ? 11 6 1

Brockway Mech. 001 200 x ? 3 6 1

Cirmorelli and Gurang. Besaw, Loughan (5), Wood (6) and Eggleston, LaPorte (6). WP- Cirmorelli. LP- Besaw. 2B- McKinley (NJ), Mills (B), LaPorte (B). 3B- Kennedy (NJ).