Last Sunday evening was a frustrating night for the Johnny Mac Thunder baseball team.

Not only did both Johnny Mac (30-6, 13-2, St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association South) and the Redbirds suffer at the hands of questionable officiating behind home plate, but the Thunder also suffered a disappointing 7-3 loss in a key SLABA match-up.

“We scored 18 runs earlier in the afternoon,” Johnny Mac head coach Jim Muskopf told the Call. ” I don’t think that the umpire was very consistent.”

Johnny Mac’s starting pitcher, Aaron Cox, threw four innings, in which he gave up four runs on three hits with eight walks and three strikeouts.

“I think he was much sharper than the totals show,” Muskopf said. “I don’t think that he (the umpire) was consistent at all and his inconsistency did not help Aaron.”

The only runs scored for Johnny Mac came in the bottom of the sixth inning as Mike Loechel blasted a three-run shot to left field. Loechel is batting .364 with three home runs and 23 runs batted in.

“Mike’s hit the ball well all summer,” Muskopf said.

“He’s a power hitter and has done a fantastic job for us for the whole season.”

Johnny Mac will travel to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the Barrett-Fletcher World Series July 17-21. The Thunder was the only team from Missouri to be invited to the event.

The first-round games will be played at the Namoli Complex, which is the spring training home for Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The championship game of the tournament will be played at Tropicana Field, the regular season home of the Devil Rays.

“When we were invited, it was such an honor,” Muskopf said.

“It’s a great area to take your kids to be scouted and one of our goals this season is to get our juniors scouted as much as possible.”

The Barrett-Fletcher World Series will feature 10 teams from Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana.

“We thought that this would enhance our ability for the kids to be scouted by people that normally wouldn’t get to see them,” Muskopf said.

“It’s a unique opportunity and it’s a nice way for our seniors to end their career.”

The Barrett-Fletcher World Series pairings were determined after the Call went to press Monday.