Santa Clarita, Calif. — Some games are worth forgetting. Tuesday afternoon’s game against Bethesda would be one of those for The Master’s College.

Cruising along with a 9-0 lead through seven innings and seemingly on the way to their 16th non-conference victory of the season, the Mustangs watched that lead evaporate in one frame as the Flames scored 10 runs in the top of the eighth to beat TMC 10-9 at Lou Herwaldt Stadium.

The loss kept the Mustangs from sweeping the season series (they won two of three) from the Flames and dropped their overall record to 31-16.

Extending the prolific output from Saturday’s sweep of Vanguard, the Mustangs forged that nine-run cushion on the backs of five home runs and four-hit, shutout pitching from a trio of hurlers.

Then, it all fell apart in one stunning frame. In the top of the eighth, the Flames sent 13 men to the plate, took advantage of one big Mustang error, rapped out eight hits, and erased the deficit. The big hits of the improbable rally were a two-run homer off the bat of Daniel Arellano and a back-breaking grand slam by Armando Valencia that put the Flames ahead.

The Mustangs had chances to even the score or go ahead in their final two at-bats, but couldn’t come up with the big hit. In the last half of the eighth, Brandon Van Horn and Michael Sexton drew two-out walks but a pop-up ended the threat. In the ninth, Collin Nyenhuis tripled with two outs and was left at third base when a strikeout ended the game.

Through the first seven innings, the Mustangs had little problem getting big hits that found their way to the gaps or over the fence. It started in their first at-bat when Sexton opened the scoring with a solo shot, his team-leading 13th roundtripper of the season. Two batters later, David Sheaffer plated Nick Covello, who had walked, with a ringing double to left field for a 2-0 lead.

An inning later, the Mustangs went up 3-0 when Aaron Shackelford doubled in Pearson Good, who had drawn a one-out walk.

Following a scoreless third and fourth, the Mustangs used the long ball again in the fifth inning as Van Horn swatted a leadoff homer to make it a 4-0 game. It was the senior shortstop’s sixth home run of the year.

He struck again in the seventh inning, igniting the five-run frame with a one-out solo blast that was a preview of power to come. Sexton and Covello followed with consecutive singles to right field and then Sheaffer hit his first home run of the campaign, a three-run jack that gave the Mustangs an 8-0 lead. Sheaffer, who wound up going 3-5, drove in a career-high four runs.

Before the Mustangs and their fans had a chance to settle down, Jonah Jarrard stepped to the plate and gave them more to cheer about when he ripped one over the fence to cap a high-voltage inning. It was Jarrard’s second homer of the year.

That 9-0 lead appeared to be very safe considering the mound performances of Jason Karkenny (one inning), Aaron Alexander (four innings), and Scott Savage (two innings), who combined for five strikeouts and limited the Flames to just four hits.

However, all of that was overshadowed by what happened in the eighth inning.

Complementing Sheaffer at the plate were Van Horn, Sexton, Jarrard, Nyenhuis, and Shackelford, who all had two hits apiece as the Mustangs compiled 15 on the afternoon.

Now, the Mustangs turn their attention to this weekend’s regular-season ending, three-game series against GSAC foe William Jessup. The Mustangs enter the series with a tenuous, one-game lead over fourth-place Menlo in the battle for the No. 3 seed in the GSAC Tournament that starts on May 9.

The opener is slated for Friday at 3:00pm at Herwaldt Stadium.