May 10, 2007 By Jim Downey 4 min read

REPUBLIC – Last season, Brownsville was sitting at 5-2 in the section, but the Falcons limped home with five consecutive losses to close the season. The Falcons won their first three section games this year before losing to Washington, and stood 5-1 at the same point of the season as last year. Brownsville didn’t allow history to repeat itself in 2007, wrapping up an 8-game section winning streak Wednesday with a 10-2 victory over visiting Beth-Center before a Senior Day crowd at Redstone Field.

The Falcons reign as Section 2-AA champions with an 11-1 record, improving to 12-5 overall, and now awaits word from Friday’s pairings meeting about their playoff opponent. The Bulldogs finished 4-8 in the section and slipped to 5-11 overall, and will end the season with non-section games against Chartiers-Houston and Mapletown.

Brownsville coach Skooter Roebuck pointed to a two-game stretch in early May as the turning point of the season.

“We pulled out close wins against Waynesburg and Washington. We beat two good teams. That gave us confidence,” Roebuck said of key victories over the section’s other two playoff teams.

The Falcons broke open a 3-2 game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Mike Rhoads was hit by a pitch with one out. He stole second, and scored on Dan Harvey’s sharp single to right field. Carey Zivkovich followed with a single, and Jeremy Lewis loaded the bases when his ground ball wasn’t fielded cleanly.

Craig Novak then brought home the second and third runs of the inning with a double.

Both teams finished with 10 hits, but Beth-Center coach Frank Pryor said the Falcons used their hits more effectively.

“We had the same amount of hits, but their hits were more timely,” said Pryor.

Brownsville scored at least one run in all but the second inning in its six at-bats. The Bulldogs hung close with manufactured single runs in the second and fourth inning. Beth-Center’s Nate White drove in the first run with a double while Jon Lowden’s RBI single scored White in the fourth.

White was 3-for-4 while Joe Tarley finished 2-for-4.

Brownsville’s Mike Michalsky added a solo blast over the left field fence in the fifth, and had a two-run double in the sixth to finish 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Harvey went 3-for-3 with a double, run scored and RBI, while Novak was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

The Falcons shared the 10 hits with six hitters, a key, according to Roebuck, to the Falcons’ success of late.

“Our bats have come around lately. I don’t know if there’s an (easy) out in the lineup the last five, six games. That’s the difference,” said Roebuck.

With the section wrapped up and seniors being honored, Roebuck played around with the lineup, but not without trepidations.

“We had a little different lineup. It was a little nerve-wracking,” said Roebuck. “We wanted to win today to hit the playoffs in stride.”

Roebuck likes where his team is at this point of the season, adding, “The kids seem excited. They have a real good attitude. They don’t think we’re done yet.”

Pryor believes his team has finally righted the ship after a lot of adversity. The Bulldogs’ starting third baseman had health issues with his heart and their catcher suffered a seizure.

“A student was involved in a food fight at school and he was thrown off the team,” added Pryor. “We never really recovered from that.

“We’re playing better, but the season’s over. The kids didn’t quit. We weren’t going to come here and lay down.”

Pryor sees the season as more than just wins and losses, however.

“There’s more to the game. It’s about life,” said Pryor. “It’s a very tough road (for baseball) at Beth-Center. The kids don’t play enough. They’re jumping from youth league to 18-year-olds in high school.”