A little over a week ago, the Salisbury baseball team experienced something for the first time this season.

Last Monday's 3-2 setback to Wilson marked the Falcons' first loss of the season. And because of it, one of the main questions was how would Salisbury respond after that first mark in the loss column.

That question was answered shortly after that defeat.

Three days later, the Falcons responded with a 15-0 route over Moravian Academy in three innings. The next day, the Falcons (19-1 overall; 15-1 in Colonial Leauge) faced the team that would earn the No. 2 seed in the Colonial League playoffs, Southern Lehigh, and beat them 5-4 to end the season head into postseason play on a positive note.

"We just had one little bump in the road," said Justin Aungst. "But hopefully that actually got us back on the right path because I know we were feeling really confident going into the games. I think we were overconfident so I hope that really got us back on track."

"It wasn't a game where we didn't have opportunities on Monday," said head coach Mike Pochron after Thursday's victory over Moravian Academy. "That was a game where we had base runners, we just didn't get a base hit when we needed it."

Against Moravian Academy, the Falcons gave the ball to Evan Kulig, who started his first game of the season. He didn't disappoint, picking up the win in two innings of work. He struck out three Moravian Academy batters and walked none. It was the first Falcon victory for someone on the mound other than the team's three aces (Tyler Cooperman, Nic Ampietro, and Aungst).

Aungst got the offense rolling early against Moravian, blasting a three-run home run to deep left field that scored Ampietro and Brad Vangeli to make it 3-0 in the first. The Falcons added four more in the inning, which would be more than enough run support for Kulig.

Pochron knew, with his three starting pitchers from last season all back this year, that the Falcons would certainly be among the league's best. He may not have known the regular season would turn out as well as it did.

"At this point of the season we've got one loss so I have to be very happy," said Pochron. "If you would've told me that we would be in this position at the beginning of the season, I'd say I'd take that in a minute.

"I think guys have fallen into very good roles, and they understand what they're going to be asked to contribute to the team. And everybody has pretty much done what we've asked them to do."

The pitching staff expected to put up big numbers going into the season. As the regular season concluded, Pochron couldn't be more impressed with his rotation. Ampietro (7-0), Cooperman (6-0), and Aungst (5-1) have combined for just one loss on the season and have solidified themselves as the league's premier staff.

"We've gotten great efforts every night and [they're] throwing strikes," said Pochron. "The goal is keep you in the ballgame, and they've certainly done that every night. Even with the loss on Monday our pitching kept us there."

Their season, however, is far from complete. While they've put together a superb regular season, Pochron knows it comes down to the championships now.

The Falcons began their run for a first title this season in Tuesday's semifinals of the Colonial League playoffs. Results from that game against Notre Dame-Green Pond were not available at time of press. (See next week's Press for Colonial League playoff coverage.)

Should the Falcons advance past the Crusaders, they'll meet the winner of Southern Lehigh and Catasauqua in the finals on Thursday. The championship game will be held at 7 p.m. at Limeport Stadium.

"Obviously with all we've done so far, we still haven't won anything," said Pochron. "All it's got us is we're in the tournament, we're the No. 1 seed, and to get any kind of a championship we need [to win] two games after that."

"I did imagine it. And I'm glad it's coming true," said Aungst of the team's season thus far. "But the regular season is just a way to get in the playoffs, and the playoffs is the part that really counts."