BASEBALL: Falcons go down fighting against top-seeded Woodlawn
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Elverado battled all game long with Woodlawn on Wednesday, but a handful mistakes led to some easy runs for the Cardinals in their 9-7 win over the Falcons in the Class 1A Trico Baseball Regional.
A hit batter and a walk were followed by a three-run homer for Woodlawn's Brock Hill in the first inning, and two errors in the fifth helped lead to a four-run inning for the Regional's top seed.
"They got three big runs on the homer, but I'll tell you what, I'm happy with our kids and the way they battled back," said EHS head baseball coach Tim Davis. "We could have just folded the tents right there against the number one seed, but we fought and I'm proud of them."
"I've been happy with these guys all year for working hard - and having fun, that's the main thing."
After Hill's bomb in the first, the Falcons came back to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the second after a two-out, two-RBI single by Bryce Mathis. Troy Stewart and Eli Fennell also had hits during the inning, and Dalton Porter drew a bases loaded walk.
Brian McClanahan gave the Falcons their only lead with a solo shot in the third, but then the Cardinals would score the next six runs. John Hollingsworth's two-run single in the fifth gave Woodlawn a 9-4 edge.
The Falcons refused to go quietly, chipping away with three runs in the sixth on RBI hits from Mathis and Christian Kistner, but the bottom half of the order couldn't get a rally going in the seventh.
McClanahan took the loss on the mound, yielding to Fennell after two and two-thirds. Mathis pitched the final inning and two-thirds without allowing a run against him.
On offense, Mathis drove in four runs and finished 2-for-4 in his final game for Elverado High School. Fellow senior Stewart (2-4, 2B) and Fennell (2-2, 2 R) also had multi-hit games.
"(Bryce is) a senior, we kind of expect that out of him," Davis said. "Troy had another nice game too. That's what they're expected to do as seniors, and I think they went out on a good note. Even though we lost, I think they're happy with what we've accomplished."
Kistner (1-4, RBI), McClanahan (1-4, HR), Dalton Porter (1-3, R, RBI, BB) and Collin Hester (1-3, R, BB) also had hits for EHS.
The loss ended a 14-17 campaign for the Falcons in 2012, a year after the team won just a single game.
"I think they're proud of where they've gotten to," said Davis. "I told them we kind of knocked on the door this year, maybe next year we knock that door down and raise expectations a little bit more."
"I'm proud of our seniors - Wade Bowlin, Dalton Porter, Casey Hicks, those three guys came out and hadn't played in a while. They helped us a ton. I'm very proud of them and happy that they gave us a chance."
Davis said he was happy to be coaching baseball again and was looking forward to building on the success his team saw in 2012.
"I'm excited about coaching again, I didn't ever think I'd get a chance again," said Davis. "I'm happy that the district gave me a chance, and I've gotten to coach with my good friend, big brother, Kevin Piper and we've had a blast together."
"We'll have a good group coming back, something we can build on. I've been told we've got a good eighth grade group with a lot of numbers, so that's going to help out a lot too."
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