JEFFERSON TWP — Having already finished the regular season with the best record, Freeport set its sights on claiming the king seat in the Butler County Area Baseball League’s double-elimination tournament.

Its chances of doing so evaporated Saturday under the heat of several costly mistakes.

After taking an early 2-0 lead against Pine Richland, Freeport stumbled in a 6-3 loss at Laura Doerr Park.

“That’s a good team we played today,” said Freeport manager Joe Hotalski. “At the end of the day, when you make as many mistakes as we did, a team like that is going to capitalize on them.”

Freeport (13-2-1) will next be in action Thursday, when it will hosts the final game of the loser’s bracket against the winner of Tuesday’s clash between Cranberry Township and Butler Township.

Pine Richland (13-3) is off until next Saturday when it will host the team that prevails from the loser’s bracket.

Freeport appeared in good shape early in Saturday’s game. Its early lead seemed bolstered with pitching ace Jarrett Heilman on the mound. But PR received three straight two-out hits to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the third frame.

With two outs, Heilman walked Shawn Connelly. Justin Lowe drove in PR’s first run with a triple. Nick Guidas singled in a run and Connor Kirby doubled in another.

Freeport had defeated Pine Richland twice in the regular season.

“The second time, we faced (Heilman), so we knew what he had,” said PR manager Brad Ansell. “We just started hitting the ball today against a really good pitcher, jumped on the good pitches he was throwing.”

Freeport answered by tying the game in the bottom of the third with Matt Mitchell’s solo home run off of Guidas, but it would be the final tally managed by the team.

In the top of the fourth, Caden Oglen reached base thanks to a throwing error with one out. He stole second and was attempting to steal third when Freeport catcher Garrett Ben’s throw was off the mark, allowing Oglen to score the go-ahead run.

A similar sequence played out in the top of the fifth. Lowe reached base on a fielding error, stole second and scored a fifth run on Ben Chleboski’s single.

“We got aggressive on the base paths,” said Ansell. “We figured, either (Freeport) is going to make the plays or we’re going to beat them.”

Meanwhile, Guidas had settled in. After giving up a single run in each of the first three innings, he shut out Freeport in three straight frames.

“He’s our No. 1 guy,” Ansell said of Guidas. “Had they played in the spring, he would have been the high school team’s top pitcher.”

Base-running miscues made Guidas’ job easier, however. Courtesy runner Tyler Asti was picked off first base for the first out of the bottom of the fourth. Earlier, Shane Volek was thrown out at third base for the last out of the second.

“They made less mistakes on both offense and defense than we did,” said Freeport assistant coach Ed Carr.

Hotalski also believes Pine Richland’s batters had a better approach at the plate.

“We were hitting the ball 200 feet in the air (for outs) and they were getting on base by hitting the ball on the ground,” he said.

Heilman struck out nine and walked three in defeat. He allowed a sixth run in the seventh after another error. The last three runs PR scored were unearned.

Pine Richland 003 110 1 — 6 6 3

Freeport 111 000 0 — 3 6 4

W: Nick Guidas 6 IP (5K, 4BB). L: Jarrett Heilman 7 IP (9K, 3BB). S: Chuck Spontak 1 IP (0K, 0BB).

Pine Richland (13-3): Justin Lowe 3B 2R RBI, Nick Guidas 1B 2RBI, Connor Kirby 2B RBI, Josh Palko 1B 2B

Freeport (13-2-1): Joseph Hotalski 1B R RBI, Matt Mitchell HR

Thursday: Freeport will host final game of loser’s bracket, opponent TBD

Saturday: Pine Richland will host first game of championship round, opponent TBD