The Wallkill baseball team had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Then Sean Asendorf popped up the first pitch from Anthony Jaescke and Jake Spindler struck out to strand Wallkill runners 13, 14 and 15.

Things went south in the 10th inning as Wallkill’s third pitcher, Julian Butcher, walked a batter, hit another and then surrendered a three-run home run to Dan Witters that broke the Panthers’ backs.

It also ended their season, as the Walter Panas Panthers scored five runs in the top of the 10th inning for a 6-1 win in Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association regional championship game at Cantine Field in Saugerties.

“There’s nothing not to be proud of,” Wallkill coach T.D. Mills said. “Stuff like that hurts. It’s going to hurt for a little bit. But as they reflect more on the season and the last six years in the weight room with the guys, and stuff like that together, you always remember it.”

Wallkill pitcher Kyle DeGroat put in one for the ages, going as far as the rulebook would allow, throwing 127 pitches in 8 1/3 innings, allowing only one hit, a single by Travis Carlucci in the sixth inning. He struck out 11.

He also delivered the Panthers’ only run, an RBI single in the second inning, giving Panthers a 1-0 lead.

“He did what Kyle does,” Mills said. “He’s a great pitcher. He’s a great kid. You can’t ask for any more. He kept us in that game. It probably should have been a 1-0 final.”

But that possibility vanished in the fifth inning.

DeGroat hit Michael Scozzafava to start the inning. He then gave way to Carlucci as a pinch runner. Then, Derek Hawley reached on a throwing error by Spindler that put runners on second and third with nobody out.

DeGroat nearly got out of that, striking out Austin Pagliettini and Cameron Hawley. However, he walked Sam Stafura to load the bases and then hit Jackson DiLorenzo with a pitch to tie the game.

The Panthers had opportunities to win the game with DeGroat still on the mound.

Asendorf singled to start the eighth inning and then went to second base on Spindler’s sacrifice bunt. However, Asendorf was cut down at third base when Chris Wager grounded to shortstop to short-circuit the threat.

Then with the bases loaded, Asendorf popped out behind the plate for the second out of the ninth inning.

“We’re aggressive early,” Mills said. “That’s how we played all year, and you don’t want to change that. He just had to understand that the pressure was on the pitcher, not him. He swung at the right pitch. It was a middle-in pitch. He just got long and off the handle. If that finds the barrel, that pitch is in the gap.”

But things fell apart in the 10th inning for Butcher, who had a nightmare 10th and was charged with all five runs without recording an out.

“I told him he did a great job getting ahead of guys,” Mills said. “Next year, he’s got to find that putaway pitch because he was 0-2, 1-2 on a lot of guys. He’s not overwhelming with velocity. He’s more of an off-speed guy and stuff like that. He just didn’t hit his spots and when you don’t hit your spots, guys like that are going to hit.”

Walter Panas moved on to the NYSPHSAA Class A Final Four on Saturday against Binghamton, where they will face Section 6 champion Williamsville East at 2 p.m. at Binghamton University.

Wallkill ended with a 21-3 record.

“I’ll be here probably for another 30 years until the school gets rid of me, but I probably won’t see another team like that again,” Mills said. “We broke 25 or 30 school records. We’re not going to see that again. They did a good job.”