Uncaught Error: This socket is closed. MQTT connectivity issues

Hardware setup: Pico, wiznet 5500io, Dual relay module

I executed save() in the IDE to save the code.

Functionality:
Pico connects to my mqtt broker and sends commands to latch/unlatch my relay.

Odd behavior:
Code will execute even though there is an Error thrown; however, when I disconnect the Pico from the IDE the code doesn't execute. To debug this issue I disconnected the Pico from my computer and plugged it back in to reboot, but the code still doesn't execute.

I then connected the Pico to the IDE again. Once Console.log and the Error dumps out to the screen the code executes correctly again.

Error:

Uncaught Error: This socket is closed. at line 1 col 54
this.client&&this.client.write(g(d.PINGR­EQ<<4)+"\x00") ^ in function
"ping" called from line 1 col 8 a.ping() ^ in function called from
system

Code:

var MQTT_HOST = "192.168.0.22";
var PATH = "/mydevice/";
var mqtt;
var eth;

var inProcess =  false;
var shortPress = 1000; // ms 1 sec
var longPress = 5000; // ms 5 secs
var pressPin = B3;

function mqttMessage(pub) {
  console.log(
     "MQTT=> ",pub.topic,pub.message);
  if (pub.topic==PATH+"computer") {
    if (pub.message == "shutdown") {
      press(shortPress);
    }
  }
}

function mqttConnect() {
  console.log("mqttConnect");
  mqtt = require("MQTT").connect({
    host: MQTT_HOST,
  });
  mqtt.on('connected', function() {
    console.log("MQTT connected");
    // subscribe to wildcard for our name
    mqtt.subscribe(PATH+"#");
  });
  mqtt.on('publish', mqttMessage);
  mqtt.on('disconnected', function() {
    console.log("MQTT disconnected... reconnecting.");
    setTimeout(function() {
      mqtt.connect();
    }, 1000);
  });
}

function press(short) {
  // ignore press function when one is still going on
  if (inProcess) return;
  inProcess = true;

  //Relays act in an inverse manner
  //reset() will latch the relay
  pressPin.reset();
  mqtt.publish(PATH+"shutdown/status", 1);

  setTimeout(function(){
      //Relays act in an inverse manner
      //set() will unlatch the relay
      pressPin.set();

      inProcess = false;
    },(short) ? shortPress : longPress);
}

setWatch(function(e) {
  digitalWrite(LED1, e.state);
  press(shortPress);
}, BTN, { repeat: true });

function onInit() {
  console.log("Connecting to Ethernet");

  SPI2.setup({ mosi:B15, miso:B14, sck:B13 });
  eth = require("WIZnet").connect(SPI2, B10);

  isConnected = eth.setIP();

  if (isConnected == true) {
    mqttConnect();
  }
}