Manteno’s Brendan Jedlicka was in a bit of a jam at the top of the seventh inning in Monday’s home Illinois Central Eight Conference game against Coal City.

With the game tied 8-all, the go-ahead run on third and one out, he struck out Lance Cuddy, who was 2 for 3 with a home run and two runs scored at that point, and then got Bobby Rodriguez, who had been on base three times, to pop out.

But just seconds after that inning-ending popup landed in second baseman Gio Arrigo’s glove, Manteno’s lightning detector sounded its warning and forced the game to be suspended.

When the seventh inning resumes Tuesday in Coal City, followed by the second game of the series, the Panthers (13-4, 7-3 ICE) will try to hand the first-place Coalers (17-6, 10-0) their first conference loss of the season.

Jedlicka, set to be the third batter when the game resumes Tuesday, said he’s confident he and his teammates can pull off a comeback win.

“I love competing, and [Coal City’s] been really good lately,” he said. “I feel confident that we’re going to get this win and finish this win like we should’ve today. Sadly, the weather came in. But we’re going to get it done tomorrow, and we’re excited for the game after that too.”

The Panthers held a 4-3 lead after a wild first inning, but the Coalers stormed back with four runs in the top of the second to retake control. They added another run in the fourth to go up 8-4 before the Panthers started to chip away, with Tyler Buehler hitting a solo home run in the fourth and Gio Arrigo scoring on an error in the fifth

Manteno got a lucky break in the sixth with runners on first and second when what appeared to be a tailor-made double-play ball hit by Logan Bufford to Coalers shortstop Tyce Farrell took a wicked hop over his head into the outfield, allowing a run to score and putting runners on second and third.

Buehler scored on a wild pitch with two outs to tie the game.

If this game stays close, it will be seven of 11 ICE games decided by three or fewer runs for the Panthers.

Head coach Matt Beckner said these close games against good teams, including a 5-3 loss at Wilmington on April 21, can help the team prep for a run at a second straight regional title later this month.

“It’s one of those things for us where the postseason normally plays out like that,” he said. “That game in Wilmington felt like a postseason atmosphere, and tonight definitely felt that way as well. Any time you can be in those games is going to make you better as a whole.”

The Coalers went 13-2 in April and ended the month on an 11-game winning streak. They opened May with a pair of tough losses to Tolono Unity and Dixon on Saturday.

If they are to get back to their winning ways on Tuesday, coach Greg Wills said they’ll have to clean up some mistakes that allowed the Panthers to get back in the game on Monday.

“In that first inning, we came out and didn’t make some routine plays that we should’ve made to end that inning,” he said. “We got the lead back, put up an eight-spot and were in pretty good shape, but again we just didn’t make some plays.”

Wills said the Coalers will have more options available to pitch to try to finish the game on Tuesday that weren’t available on Monday, and will have to balance that with the needs for Game 2 as well.

“Hopefully we can get them out in the seventh and go get one,” he said. “We feel pretty good about having some pitching to come at them with ... but they’re certainly going to come strong at us.”