LAKE GENEVA - The Horlick High School baseball team, comprised of a senior-dominated, talent-laden group of kids who had all but forgotten how to lose, saw its season come to an end in gut-wrenching fashion Tuesday.

After its promising sixth-inning rally was stalled by a controversial ruling, the Rebels lost 7-5 to defending WIAA Division 1 champion Kenosha Bradford in a sectional semifinal at Badger High School.

Horlick (16-8), which had won 14 of its previous 15 games, had beaten Bradford (19-7) 8-7, 11-5 and 5-3 during the regular season.

"Too bad it had to end like this," first baseman Chad Langley said.

"It's unfortunate that had to be called," starting pitcher Jon Capasso said.

This was the situation: With Bradford leading 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Horlick started a rally against Bradford left-handed starter Brenden Schulz, who had thrown more than 100 pitches at that point.

Kyle Kisner walked and Zach Saeger singled to left. After Sam Azarian struck out, Logan Neibaur was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

But Drew Pearson followed with a groundout to shortstop Jon Atkins, who threw to second baseman Pete Djurickovic to seemingly force Neibaur. Djurickovic's throw got past first baseman Eric Carrao, but the home plate umpire ruled that Neibaur interfered with Djurickovic, which resulted in an automatic double play.

So instead of pulling to within 7-6 with runners on second and third because of the overthrow and Capasso, the reigning All-Racine County Player of the Year coming to the plate, Horlick came up with nothing.

"He said I slid too high into the plate," said Neibaur, who led off the bottom of the first with a home run over the left-field fence. "There was nothing I could really do about it. I slid to the base, he came out in front of the base and I just slid where I was supposed to.

"Obviously, as a baserunner, you're always trying to break up a double play, but I don't think I did anything wrong."

Djurickovic, the son of Carthage College men's basketball coach Bosko Djurickovic, offered a different perspective.

"I stepped back and he slid two feet behind the base," Djurickovic said. "We got lucky. We got a little break out of it, but we're not complaining.

"It was very crucial because they would have scored one run and I had no idea where the ball went, so they could have scored more and they would have still been batting, maybe right now even."

Horlick coach Joe Wendt readily agreed how crucial that play was.

"We had Kyle (Kisner, who relieved Capasso) throwing real hard, their guy was laboring - he had thrown close to 130 pitches - and I think we were the team playing better that last three innings," Wendt said. "I think the momentum definitely would have been in our favor."

But this wasn't Horlick's only chance against Bradford, which returned seven starters from its championship team. After Bradford got to Capasso for three runs in the top of the first, Horlick loaded the bases after Neibaur's leadoff homer with no outs. But Langley struck out looking and, after Drew Pearson scored on Taylor Jahnke's shallow fly to left, Danny Harrison struck out swinging.

Another lost opportunity came in the fourth inning, when Horlick scored a run to take a 5-4 lead - it was the only time the Rebels were ahead - and were in position to pad that advantage. But Capasso flied out with runners on the corners and Jon Atkins hit a three-run double in the top of the fifth inning to give Bradford the lead for good.

And now Wendt will have to start largely from scratch after losing seven senior starters plus Kisner, his No. 1 pitcher, to graduation. This season brought plenty of gratification, but it ended with a heartache.

"We beat Bradford three out of four times this year, but the one time they muster a little something, they end up advancing to the sectional final," Wendt said. "It's kind of disappointing that we win three out of four and we're the team going home."