C.J. Weigand of Mars is forced out at second as Ford City's Brendon Ignatz tries for a double play Thursday in the Planets' 13-12, nine-inning loss to the Sabers.

MARS — Ford City hung around and ultimately hung a frustrating loss on the Mars baseball team.

The Sabers trailed the Planets 5-0 after one inning and 10-4 after five, but the visitors rallied to force extra innings and took home a wild 13-12, nine-inning victory Thursday at Marburger Field.

"In all six of our losses we have given up at least 10 runs," said Mars coach Brian Hobaugh. "To be honest, I wasn't that comfortable when we were up 10-4."

The Sabers (6-5) scored three times in the top of the ninth to take a 13-10 lead.

But the Planets received a two-run double from Tyler Dean and had runners on second and third with two outs when Sabers reliever Danny Russo struck out Ryan McKenzie to end the game.

Russo entered at the start of the sixth inning. He threw four frames, striking out seven and walking two to earn the win.

The first three innings of his outing were scoreless.

"Dan's a guy who has started and relieved for us at different times," said Ford City coach Larry Cujas. "He's been struggling to throw strikes in his starts, so we wanted to get him a few innings of relief and he threw well."

The Sabers' three runs in the top of the ninth came on an RBI double by Tyler Nuzzo, who later scored on a fielding error, and when Russo scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Mike Shaner on a play in which Mars failed to record an out.

The runs and the loss were charged to Brandon Kline, Mars' fifth pitcher of the day after starter Nick Bushee (4X\c IP) and relievers C.J. Weigand (Z\c), Jordan Mullins (1) and Ryan O'Connor (1).

Against Mullins, Ford City's Devan Willyard smacked a two-run double in the sixth inning and scored on Shaner's groundout to cut Mars' edge to 10-8.

Facing O'Connor in the seventh and needing at least two runs, Nuzzo's single plated Brendon Ignatz and Dylan Wolsonovich.

"I like this team's determination," said Cujas. "On offense, we put the ball in play. We did everything we had to do to win today."

Mars busted out of the gate with five runs in the bottom of the first, highlighted by run-scoring doubles by James Fox and Dylan Bear, and an RBI single by Brad Grosso.

Ford City starting pitcher Rory Lockhart lasted four innings, striking out four and walking five. He gave up six runs on four hits.

The Planets (5-6) committed five errors and issued eight walks.

"It's like we got in cruise control," said Hobaugh. "We didn't seem to want to close the deal. With us, no amount of runs puts us in a safe mode."

Ford City 020 024 203 — 13 14 2Mars 500 140 002 — 12 11 5W: Danny Russo 4 IP (7 K, 2 BB).

L: Brandon Kline 2 IP (1 K, 1 BB).

Ford City (6-5): Dylan Wolsonovich 1B 2-2B 3R RBI, Tyler Cochenour R, Danny Russo 1B 2R, Rory Lockhart 1B R, Mike Shaner 2-1B 2 RBI, Cody Gispanski 1B RBI, Dave Lattanizo 2B R, Brendon Ignatz 2-1B 2R RBI, Devan Willyard 2B R 3 RBI, Tyler Nuzzo 1B 2B 2R 3 RBI

Mars (5-6): Blake Friday 1B R, James Fox 2B R 2 RBI, Dylan Bear 2B R RBI, Ryan O'Connor 1B 2B 2R, Jeff Quail R, Brad Grosso 2-1B R RBI, Brandon Kline 2R RBI, Tyler Dean 2B 2R 2 RBI, Brian Cassidy 1B, Ryan McKenzie 3B 2 RBI, Andrew Rush 1B R

Today: Hampton at Mars