WILTON app The West Burlington High School baseball team was right where it wanted to be.
In a tie game heading into the seventh inning, the Falcons were poised to complete their comeback against Louisa-Muscatine.
Instead, victory stayed just out of West Burlingtonapp reach.
Hayden Cantrell doubled in Chase Loving with what proved to be the game-winning run as Louisa-Muscatine came away with an 8-7 win over West Burlington in a Class 2A district quarterfinal game on Monday at Wilton High School.
Louisa-Muscatine (7-12) advanced to face sixth-ranked Chariton (22-6) in a district semifinal game Tuesday at Chariton.
West Burlington closed the season with an 8-12 record.
In the end, Louisa-Muscatine made a few more plays than the young West Burlington squad.
appThat was a tough one to end on really,app first-year West Burlington coach Dustin Guihan said. appThey put the ball in places we werenappt and made some timely hits. We were trying to make some things happen late. We just couldnappt put the ball in play to score. That was a tough one.app
West Burlington spent much of the night playing catch-up.
Trailing 7-5 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, Garret Bence singled to open the frame. Courtesy runner Austin Fletcher-Bates advanced to second on a balk, took third on a ground out by Caleb Bush and scored on a single to right field by Silas Lotzow.
West Burlington knotted the game at 7 in the sixth. Brock Thuleen reached on a one-out error, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a single by Ayden Figuereo.
Louisa-Muscatine regained the lead in the top of the seventh. With Loving on first following a fielderapp choice, Cantrell roped a line drive to center that got over the head of senior Levi Fletcher-Bates, allowing Loving to score what proved to be the winning run.
appThat happens. Heapp been a ball hawk for us all year. Thatapp going to happen app a ball is going to get by you,app Guihan said of Fletcher-Bates. appSometimes you just read a ball differently, especially on a line drive right to you. Itapp tough to judge that ball.app
Bence led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, stole second and was sacrificed to third by Bush.
That would be as close as West Burlington would get as Owen Klocksiem struck out Lotzow and got senior Bo Begner to pop up to shortstop Tyler Rosenboom to end the game.
appWeappve been hitting the heck out of the ball, so it was tough to see us not carry that over into the game right there,app Guihan said. appItapp something to continue to improve on going into next year. We have to find a way to put the ball in play and score from there.app
Louisa-Muscatine scored two runs in the top of the first off Thuleen.
The lead could have been more if not for a spectacular diving catch in left-center field by Levi Fletcher-Bates in the third inning.
appThat was the greatest catch I have ever seen. That was awesome,app Guihan said. appIappve never seen a better catch than that. He closed the gap so fast on that. Heapp been awesome for us out there. Mr. Reliable. A ball hawk.app
West Burlington plated four runs in the second to open a 5-2 lead. Figuereo had the key hit, a two-run single to score Begner and Sawyer Guihan.
The lead was short-lived as Louisa-Muscatine battle back against Thuleen, who pitched three innings in his last appearance for West Burlington.
appHeapp been battling some injuries,app Guihan said. appThat has been a year-long type of thing on the mound, too. I was hoping for a great outing by him. I know heapp going to go out there and compete every time heapp on the mound. Those injuries kind of took over and you could kind of see that in the middle of the game. Thatapp why we had to switch there. I couldnappt ask for a better guy.app
Bush hurled the last four innings, allowing just two earned runs on five hits.
appHeapp got a lot of grit. He came out and got us through those situations,app Guihan said of Bush. appHeapp been our guy all year. I was trying to save him for (Tuesday), but we had to bring him in today. Things just didnappt go our way.app
West Burlington graduates Bush, Levi Fletcher-Bates and Thuleen.
appThose three guys paved the way for us to get us here now,app Guihan said. appHopefully they can learn from the way they played the game and carry over from that and get better in all facets of the game. You only have four years of high school so you have to give it your all. Thatapp huge.app