In the field and at the plate, the Harlan County Black Bears did so many things right in Tuesday’s game against Bell County.

That’s what makes the few things they did wrong so much more frustrating.

The Bears erased a three-run deficit over the fifth and sixth innings, only to give up the go-ahead run in the seventh as they fell to the visiting Bobcats 6-5, giving Bell County a two-game sweep in the best-of-three district series.

“If we could go back through all of our games and take back half of the runs we’ve given away, our record would be so much better,” Harlan County coach John Lewis. “There have been so many times we’ve battled back and lost by one or two runs after we gave them four or five.”

Harlan County’s mistakes allowed the Bobcats to get ahead to begin with. Three of Bell’s six runs were unearned, aided by four Harlan County errors.

“Both teams kicked it around a little bit, and both teams capitalized on mistakes. We were just lucky to get two popups and a ground ball in that last inning and get the win,” Bell County coach John Smith said.

With the win, the Bobcats locked up the No. 1 seed in the upcoming district tournament. Middlesboro claimed the No. 2 seed by defeating Harlan on Tuesday, locking Harlan County and Harlan into the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively.

“You always want the No. 1 seed. Playing the No. 4 seed, you feel like you get a little bit of a break,” Smith said. “But anybody in this district can beat anybody on any given day. There’s no real advantage — everybody’s going to bring their ace that first game, and anything can happen.”

The Bears had all the momentum early, turning a picture-perfect 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the first inning and then scoring the game’s first run in the bottom of the frame.

Harlan County’s leadoff batter, freshman Braxton Fields, struck out but advanced to first on a passed ball. He moved to second on Tyler Boggs’ sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, Robbie Halcomb smacked a single to center and the ball was misplayed by Adam Overbay, allowing Fields to score.

Bell answered with a pair of unearned runs in the second. Matt Simpson led off with a single to center. The next batter, John Dudley Hilton, bunted down the third-base line. Anthony McMillian’s throw to Jared Garland was a little low, and Hilton inadvertently kicked the ball after reaching the bag safely. Garland retrieved the ball and misfired to third, allowing Simpson to score and moving Hilton to third. Hilton scored on Chase Ely’s sacrifice fly to put the Bobcats ahead 2-1.

The Bears tied the game with another unearned run in the bottom of the second. Senior Phillip Maggard reached on a fielder’s choice, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Fields reached on an error two batters later.

Bell took the lead again with two runs in the fourth, including the game’s first earned run.

Jake Jones laid down a perfect bunt that rolled to a stop just inside the baseline for a single. Pinch runner Brian Thacker moved to second as Monte Merrick reached on a fielder’s choice, and both runners scored after Overbay singled to left and the ball was thrown away by Ryan Cope.

The Bobcats added an insurance run in the fifth as Spencer Greer singled and moved to second on an error before scoring on Robbie Slusher’s double to left.

Harlan County began its rally with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth. Boggs blooped a one-out single to right, and courtesy runner Alex Sergent advanced to second on a wild pitch. A two-base error by Hilton off the bat of Paul David Creech brought Sergent home, pulling the Bears within two.

The Bears tied the game in the sixth as they collected four hits off Ely. Justin Brashears reached on a fielder’s choice, igniting a two-out rally that included a single by McMillian, an RBI double by Fields and an RBI single by Boggs. With two runners on base, Ely fanned Creech to prevent the Bears from taking the lead.

Bell wasted little time reclaiming the edge as Slusher opened the seventh inning with a single up the middle, stole second and scored on Hilton’s one-out single to left. Harlan County got out of the inning with another nifty double play.

Halcomb doubled to left to start the bottom of the seventh, but Ely induced a pair of popups and a groundout to preserve the victory.

Ely, a senior right-hander, surrendered 10 hits while striking out eight and walking one.

“He’s shown some guts all year, coming in as a reliever,” Smith said. “His pitch count was down tonight, so we decided to stay with him. I’m proud of him — he stuck it out and did the job.”

Boggs (1-5) also turned in a solid performance despite giving up 12 hits. The eighth-grader fanned five, walked one and hit two batters.

“Tyler pitched an amazing game. I feel bad for the teams that are going to have to face him the next four years,” Lewis said.

The coach was pleased with the way the Bears broke out of their offensive doldrums after managing just five hits in their last three games.

“We did a lot better tonight,” he said. “I stressed to the players, just because you beat a ranked team like South Laurel and got all those hits, you can’t come into the next game with an attitude of, ‘Well, it’s just going to come to us.’ You’ve got to go the plate every time aggressively and hit the ball hard. I think that was our problem the last two or three ballgames, but we bounced back tonight against a great team.”

Halcomb, a junior, led Harlan County’s offensive attack with a double and two singles in the cleanup spot. Niday and Boggs each singled twice. Fields added a double, and Blayne Rutherford and McMillian each contributed one single.

Merrick and Slusher doubled and singled for Bell County (14-3). Overbay and Hilton each singled twice. Simpson, Jones and Greer added a single apiece.

The Bears were swept in district series by both Bell and Middlesboro, but the two home losses were each by one run.

“The meeting we had after the Middlesboro game, and the meeting after this game, the boys sat here and admitted that they know they can beat these good teams,” Lewis said. “It’s just a matter of coming ready to play.”

Harlan County (6-12) will try to snap a four-game losing streak Thursday at Barbourville.

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Bell County 020 210 1 — 6 12 3

Harlan County 110 012 0 — 5 10 4

Ely and Simpson; Boggs and Halcomb. W—Ely. L—Boggs (1-5).