For the first time in 15 years, Northampton’s baseball team is in danger of not making the district playoffs.

Entering this week, the Konkrete Kids had an overall 6-8 record and were seated ninth in the District 11 Class 6A bracket.

Over their final six games, the Kids will need to win four of them. On the surface, that can be a daunting task, and it may prove to more difficult as the Kids began the week with a three-game losing streak and they had dropped six of their las eight games.

They began this week being shutout in two of their last three games, being blanked twice 10-0 to Whitehall and Freedom and stumbled to a 12-7 loss to Stroudsburg.

Head coach Mick Sugra and his players are frustrated due to the multifaceted problems. According to district OWP rating, the Kids are playing the highest strength of schedule among all 51 teams.

“It a culmination of things,” stated Sugra. “Our pitching has been struggling, our defense hasn’t been solid, and we haven’t had timely hitting. When we faced Freedom, they had a 0.92 ERA and ours is over four.”

Sugra noted that senior Andrew Berger, who was 3-0 and threw over 20 innings last season, has been sidelined with bicep issues, and junior starter Brady Simock has struggled with his walks (20).

At Stroudsburg, the Kids stormed out to a 5-0 lead and later held a 12-3 advantage before Stroudsburg took control with a seven-run fifth. Four of their 12 runs were unearned.

“It really has been a little bit of everything that has worked against us,” added Sugra. “We’ve had some kids who carried us offensively at the beginning of the season, and their bats have gone cold.”

Tommy Hensel is the team’s leading hitter with a .415 clip with a team-high 17 hits and nine RBIs. Brayden Giandomenico is at .385, Erick Castro is at .341, and Austin Summers is at .311 with nine RBIs. Aidan Sugra leads the team with 13 RBIs.

On the mound, Simock is 3-2 with a 2.62 ERA and a team-high 39 strikeouts in 21.1 innings, and Castro is 2-3 with a 4,32 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 22.2 innings.

The Kids have a busy week ahead with games against Pocono Mountain East Monday, Easton Wednesday, and Liberty Friday.

Last season, the Kids beat Emmaus, 6-0, in the district quarterfinals and lost to eventual champion Liberty, 8-6 in the semifinals. They finished with an overall 15-8 record.

Sugra is confident his team can reverse its fate.

“We just have to play one game at a time,” he stressed. “We have to start hitting again and tighten our defense. We are certainly capable of getting back to districts.”