] Ducks lose 18-inning game BY MIKE CASEY SPECIAL TO NEWSDAY September 13, 2006, 8:58 AM EDT The game could have ended so many times. But the weather was nice (as cool September evenings go) and there was still one concession stand selling hot chocolate and Cheez Doodles, so the Ducks and Camden Riversharks played into the night. Night became morning as midnight struck in the 15th inning. At last, at 1:26 a.m., Camden rightfielder Jason Conti retired the Ducks' Rob Cafiero on a comebacker to end the game. Camden won, 8-7, in the longest Ducks game in history by time (6 hours, 20 minutes) and by innings (18). After the final out, the Riversharks barely had enough energy to celebrate. Ducks players walked sluggishly back to the dugout. It had been exhausting experience for all who had participated in one of the most peculiar games in minor league baseball history. Three and a half hours earlier, the Ducks were being three-hit and trailed 5-0 in the bottom of the eighth. But they rallied for five runs, forcing extra innings. The teams stayed scoreless for the next six frames. In the top of the 15th, Camden's Dwight Maness singled in two runs to give the 'Sharks a 7-5 lead. But the Ducks rallied again, this time off Camden's Mark Demarco, who started the game at shortstop and had never pitched in a professional game before. After Long Island put the tying runs on base, Camden manager Wayne Krenchicki went to his bullpen for Damian Myers, who was actually listed as a pitcher on the roster. But Myers promptly surrendered a two-run triple to Mel Stocker, and the game was tied again. That's when things got really strange. In the bottom of the 16th, Camden appeared to reinsert a player who had been taken out of the game the previous inning. But the substitution was allowed to stand on the field, and Ducks manager Don McCormack didn't protest. Ducks pitcher Pat Ahearne, an avid photographer who started the game for Long Island, was in streeth clothes snapping photos from the stands in the top of the 17th. By that point, only about 50 of the announced crowd of 5,234 remained. In the bottom of the 17th, the Ducks loaded the bases against Conti, who was in his second inning on the mound after playing the first 15 in rightfield. But Conti induced Long Island's Ray Navarette to ground into a double play, prolonging the game. In the top of the 18th, Camden's Luis Lopez delivered an RBI single off Ducks reliever Kevin Mannix to make it 8-7. The Ducks went down in order in the bottom of the 18th, punctuating an awful hitting performance in which they managed just 12 hits in 18 innings and scored just two runs off three different Camden position players.