Nashua South's Leo DePaolo gets back to third just before Bishop Guertin's Josh Wilson can apply the tag during Monday night's game at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It was Marathon Monday in more ways than one.

Forget the race down in Boston, the Bishop Guertin and Nashua South High School baseball teams staged their own marathon under the night sky at Holman Stadium, with the Cardinals simply outlasting the Panthers 9-7.

It was a game of mistakes, but also a game of forcing mistakes. And for Bishop Guertin, a sign its players can be resilient. They trailed 2-0, 3-1, then led 6-3 and 7-6 before it was tied at 7 going into the top of the seventh.

“These last two games, Trinity and these guys, down in both games and both times battled back, scrapped back, taken leads, got tied, taken the lead again,” said Cards coach Scott Painter, his team now 2-1. “Resilience from these guys has been pretty good.”

It was a strange game. BG ace starter A.J. Holmes threw five wild pitches and didn’t have any rhythm, and South showed it meant business when Kosay Tanaka boomed a leadoff double in a first inning in which South scored twice.

That wouldn’t have happened last year when it seemed the Panthers were beaten before taking the field.

“Oh no, definitely not,” South coach James Gaj said. “I’m definitely happy. We came out with a lot of heart, a lot of spirit. We knew exactly what to expect from A.J., we game planned for it, and Tanaka came out of the gates swinging, and that’s what we wanted. It set the tone.

“These guys want to show everybody that they’re not underdogs, that they’re not an 0-3 team, show everybody what they have around here.”

The problem is the Panthers are at 0-3, giving up two runs in the top of the seventh with the score tied at 7. With Jordy Delude at third, South’s Gus Smiley dropped a potential sac liner in shallow left plating the winning run. One out later, Tyler Parks singled up the middle for a key insurance run off hard-luck losing relief pitcher Brendon Doughty, who otherwise pitched well.

“It would have been tough, it would’ve had to take a good catch and a good throw and in a high school baseball game that’s a tough play for a kid,” Gaj said. “I’ve been saying it forever, a (team) that wins a high school baseball game is a team that makes the least amount of mistakes.”

Tanaka had three doubles on the night, while BG’s Parks had four hits and two RBI, including a run-scoring double in the Cards’ five-run third that chased South starter Leo DiPaolo and gave them a 6-3 lead.

“He’s been lights out,” Painter said of Parks. “Just absolutely dominant, smashing the ball. … He’s been locked in.”

However, Holmes couldn’t hold it, giving up an RBI single to DiPaolo in the third and wild pitched home the tying run in the fourth.

Guertin got a run in the sixth on a throwing error to go up 7-6, but the Panthers tied it when the third BG pitcher, Logan Kosko, issued a bases loaded walk. But after BG grabbed the lead in the top of the seventh, Ben Geiger, who will start vs. Bedford on Wednesday, got the side in order to end it nearly three hours after it started.

“That’s who he is,” Painter said of Geiger. “He’s going to pound the zone, he can mix, he can throw every single pitch for a strike and put it where he wants it. We’re going to rely on him all year.”

Nashua South’s Brendon Doughty pitched well in relief Monday night but ended up taking the loss vs. Bishop Guertin at Holman Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Doughty showed the Panthers a lot, allowing three tough runs in 4.1 innings of relief. “He went right at it.”

So while one team was resilient, the other also refused to back down.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” Gaj said. “It’s going to come together.”