NORTHAMPTON — The Holyoke baseball team’s 4-0 lead all of a sudden disappeared. Northampton stormed from behind to tie the game at four and send it to extra innings, and after getting through the top of the eighth inning unscathed, the Blue Devils had a chance to win it.

Aiden Zera stood on second (hit by pitch, steal), and Asher Garretson drew a walk. With two outs and two on, Johnny Nields-Duffy stepped to the plate looking to play hero. Nields-Duffy saw a pitch he liked and sent the ball to right field. Charging on to make a play came Holyoke’s Jaden Diaz. Just a few innings earlier, Diaz had misplayed a fly ball that allowed a pair of Northampton runs to score.

That wouldn’t be the case this time.

Diaz sprinted after the ball and laid out for it. The senior made a fantastic diving catch – just barely grabbing the ball before it hit any grass – to save the game. Zera would have scored had Diaz not come up with the catch.

The Holyoke dugout and those on the field erupted, and the Purple Knights used that momentum to score four runs in the top of the ninth – giving them an 8-4 win over Northampton on Monday afternoon.

“If that falls, they had a guy on second, he probably scores and we lose; the game’s over,” Holyoke head coach David Guzman said. “Just a fantastic play. He had a play earlier in the game that was very similar, but he missed it. So him coming up, staying confident and laying out like that while the game’s on the line, it shows how much these kids care.”

Joseph Rios started off the visiting half of the ninth with a single, followed by a Matthew Dumoulin bunt single to put runners on first and second. A double steal advanced them into scoring position, then Justin Rivera ripped a single to score both. Rivera then stole third, and a throwing error allowed him to slide safely into home and make it 7-4.

Aiden Robinson capped off the frame with an RBI single, and just as quickly as Holyoke’s four-run lead evaporated, the Purple Knights built another one – this time securing their third win in four games following an 0-5 start to the year.

“The beginning of our season didn’t go our way, but we’ve got a young team,” Guzman said. “My kids are starting to adjust and gauge the speed of the game. Six of our nine starters are freshmen and sophomores, and they’re starting to understand what it takes to be competitive on varsity baseball. They play hard for me and that’s all I can ask for.”

Northampton is still in search of its first win this season, and Monday was the best chance the Blue Devils have had so far.

Down 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Matthew Walko sent a ball in the gap to bring across Northampton’s first two runs of the afternoon. Walko later advanced into scoring position and darted for home when Cody Keel hit one up the middle. Through five innings, the Blue Devils trailed just 4-3.

The score remained that way until the bottom of the seventh. It was do-or-die time for the hosts. With one out, Aiden Keeling-Lococo recorded his third hit of the game on a single up the middle. He stole second to put himself in scoring position as Walko stepped to the dish. Walko turned on a pitch and sent it down the left-field line, and Keeling-Lococo rounded third to dart for the plate. He reached there with no problem, tying things up at four apiece.

“I think that’s the biggest thing, we just didn’t quit,” Blue Devils head coach Andrew Serio said. “We have a couple new faces, but overall it’s more of the same players from last year. Each game we’re learning to mesh as a group. We had a couple guys move positions around, so we’ve been making sure we’re on the same page. Each game we’re showing more and more progress, it unfortunately wasn’t enough today.”

It almost was, until Diaz lunged for his highlight-reel catch. That snatched the life out of Northampton’s dugout and put it in Holyoke’s.

“Baseball is a game of success and failure, and when you see a success like that from the other team – it’s a big play for them – you just have to move on to the next play,” Serio said. “We battled until the end, but we just had one rough inning at the very end and we just couldn’t quite fight back.”

Holyoke starter Arthur Mazzu pitched five innings and gave up only one earned run, Rivera had two hits, three runs and two RBIs, Robinson tallied a trio of hits drove in a pair while Nolan Judd recorded three RBIs including a two-run single in the second.

Up next for the Purple Knights (3-6) is a road game with Belchertown on Tuesday.

Northampton’s Jack Sherman pitched seven innings on the bump for the Blue Devils, striking out seven and surrendering only five hits. Offensively Northampton was paced by Keeling-Lococo (three hits, one run), while Walko (three RBIs, one run), Matthew Baird and Keel (RBI) all had two hits each.

The Blue Devils (0-8) are back at it Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. against East Longmeadow.