Eagles fall in playoff opener, season ends

The twelfth-seeded Eagles baseball team had several late-inning opportunities to cut into its deficit, tie the game and take the lead versus the fifth-seeded Albany Huskies.

Trailing 3-1, the Eagles had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth inning before  a Brayden Becker  inning-ending double play ended that threat. In the seventh inning, still facing the same deficit, the Eagles put three straight runners on base with two outs to reload the bases. A Lee Dziengel fly ball out to right field ended that threat, the game and the Eagles’ season.

In the opening round of the Section 6AA Baseball Tournament, the Eagles dropped the road playoff game by a 3-1 final at Avon Laker Park on May 27.

For the game, the Eagles outhit the Huskies by a 9-6 margin. Both teams left nine runners on base for the game.

The Eagles fell behind 1-0 in the first inning after a passed ball led to a run. The Huskies extended this lead with another run in the third off an RBI sacrifice fly.

Still trailing 2-0, the Eagles got on the board via a Matt Geislinger RBI single in the fifth, cutting the lead to one, at 2-1. The Huskies answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, scoring another run off a passed ball, providing for the final margin.

Offensively, Bryce Nieman finished two-for-four, Dziengel two-for-four and Carter Scheeler two-for -three to pace the Eagles.

Coltant Harff took the pitching loss for the Eagles, giving up three runs, none earned, on six hits, five walks and one hit batter, and striking out four over six innings and 106 pitches.

With the loss, the Eagles finished the season with a 10-10 record. The team loses 10 seniors to graduation, in Lee Dziengel, Riley Geislinger, Mitchell Lipinski, Brayden Kramer, Max Geislinger, Coltant Harff, Justin Becker, Eli Hernandez, Gavin Allen-Markgraf and Carter Scheeler.