0-10. That was the Elmira baseball teams' record in league play last year. They were the worst team in the Sky-Em conference. Then the 2019 season started with several players being injured in a team bus accident earlier this year. A shaky start gave no indication that league play would be any different especially playing 4A powerhouses Junction City and Marist three times each.
But a funny thing happened on the way to what expectations might have been. The Falcons beat Junction City in the league opener and earlier this week, Elmira managed to go 3-3 vs the top two teams in the conference by sweeping Marist Catholic with an unlikely pair of walk off wins that were both secured by bases loaded walks to end the games, 8-7 and 7-6. Blake Whigam and Landon Parker got the winning RBIs respectively.
The two victories gave the Falcons a tiebreaker with Marist. All that remained was securing one victory in the road double header with Marshfield in Coos Bay. Perhaps too tight and tense, the Pirates
drilled Elmira in the opener 10-0 as Marshfield's Ryan Knight spun a gem; no runs, scattering 5 hits and striking out 8 going the distance in the shortened six inning game.
However, the perscription for Falcons baseball has been rallying late. Again in a Danskin tight game, tied at 2 apiece, Elmira rallied for 4 runs in the sixth inning taking advantage of a hit batter, a dropped strike three, an error and two walks by the suddenly generous Pirates. The Falcons gave up only one run beyond that and the Falcons who were the cellar dwellers last year found themselves not only in the playoffs but will be sporting a first round bye by being the second place team in the 4A Sky-Em Conference, with a 6-3 victory Monday May 14 at Marshfield High School.
Perhaps the most encouraging thought moving forward is not that the accomplishment has been so remarkable, but that the trip might go into next year as well as this is a young team that is making its mark in the state rankings.
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