OLD ORCHARD BEACH — It was a case of deja-vu all over again for the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide Tuesday night, this time without a concluding celebration.

The Tide saw a seemingly comfortable lead evaporate in the late innings as the Pittsfield Suns rallied for five runs in their last two at-bats to earn a 5-4 victory in a Futures Collegiate Baseball League game played at The Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach.

Unlike the meeting between the two teams on July 25th that resulted in a 6-5 walk-off victory for the Raging Tide (19-26), this time around the Suns (23-21) came out on top by plating a run in the ninth to post the come-from-behind win.

“It seems like almost every game against them is like this,” said Raging Tide head coach George Reidy. “They’re ahead and we come back or we’re ahead and they comeback. They are very good ball games.”

Thanks to some steady pitching and solid defense the Tide carried a 4-0 advantage into the eighth inning. But for the second straight time on home turf against the Suns the home side allowed Pittsfield back into the contest by surrendering four runs in the eighth to tie the game.

The game turned when Pittsfield loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk off Tide reliever Taylor Toyfair. A fielder’s choice scored the Suns’ first run. Travis Smith followed with a run-scoring single and Anthony Corona added a two-run single to even things at 4-4. Rob Rozzi came out of the pen to replace Toyfair and the inning ended when Old Orchard Beach catcher Matt Verrier gunned down Corona attempting to steal second.

“I thought there were opportunities for us to help (Toyfair) out a little by keeping balls in the infield and by throwing to proper bases from the outfield,” said Reidy. “That would have made things a little bit different in that inning.”

The Suns scored the decisive run in the ninth when Brandon Howard singled, stole second and scored on a single by Chad Funkhouser.

It was all Raging Tide up until the eighth.

Old Orchard Beach starter Joey Royer rolled along through the first six innings with the assistance of some solid defense.

The Raging Tide starter got out of the first inning thanks to a traditional 6-4-3 double-play and turned a double-play to end the second inning as well. With one out and runners at first and second Corona sent a fly ball to center that was tracked down and caught by Colin Gay. After making the catch Gay threw to Jason Volser who applied a tag on Smith as he attempted to advance to second on the fly out to end the frame.

Nick Lancisi turned in a third straight impressive inning-ending defensive play for the Tide when he made a diving grab on a line shot down the first baseline to close out the third.

Royer allowed only three hits in his outing before giving way to the bullpen.

“It was very disappointing because I was trying to get my first win,” said Royer.

“It’s a tough spot (for Toyfair) to come in and try to close a game even though you have a four-run lead. It’s still a lot more pressure than you think.”

The Raging Tide took advantage of two errors by the Suns to plate three of the first four runs of the game. Michael Cleary started the Old Orchard Beach scoring when he tripled to score Tito Lluberes to give the home side a 1-0 lead. Moments later Cleary scored when Ryan Deitrich couldn’t handle a grounder to first that would have closed out the inning. Instead the Raging Tide grabbed a 2-0 advantage.

Defense cost the Suns in the third inning as well. Pittsfield starter Don Bradley issued a pair of walks to put runners on first and second with two outs. With the runners on the move, Lluberes sent a ground ball to short that Brandon Howard was unable to field cleanly. Both Raging Tide runners scored on the error to up the count to 4-0.

— Contact Mark Jeanneret at 282-1535, Ext. 323.