BLOOMSBURG - The Salisbury baseball team showed its dominance from the very beginning of the year as the Falcons went on a season-opening 17-game winning streak, which led to a 19-1 regular season record. That momentum helped them win a second straight Colonial League title and the second District 11 Class AA title in the last three seasons.

Salisbury continued its run of success into the postseason, defeating District 12 champion Neumann-Goretti in the first round and District 4 champion Hughesville in the quarterfinals, giving the Falcons an eight-game winning streak heading into the PIAA semifinals.

The Falcons appeared to be primed for a trip to the PIAA Class AA title game, with ace Nic Ampietro on the mound and an offense that was almost unstoppable, averaging over eight runs a game.

But all that momentum came to a halt just one game shy of the championship.

District 4 runner-up Loyalsock overcame soggy field conditions at Bloomsburg University with timely hitting and an unexpected pitching performance en route to an 8-1 win over Salisbury in the PIAA Class AA semifinal.

It was an unspectacular end to a remarkable season for a Salisbury team that finished the year with a 25-2 record.

"I still think it was an outstanding year," said Salisbury coach Mike Pochron. "We have nothing to hang our heads about losing in the state semifinal; we still won a league and district title.

"We ran into a hot team and things just seemed to go their way today. They played hard and they deserved to win today."

One of the keys to the Lancers victory was the performance of starter Luke Glavin, who stifled the Falcons' offense, allowing one run and five hits in seven innings to earn the win.

The performance came as a surprise to Loyalsock coach Jeremy Eck, who was just hoping to get a few innings from his starter.

"Luke's been tough for us all year," Eck said. "He's a little bit banged up with an ankle injury and we were just asking for nine outs and we would find a way to get it done.

"But he just kept pumping the strike zone and the defense played great behind him. When you play sound defense and pitch well you're going to be tough to beat and we did it all today."

The complete game was something Glavin had in mind regardless of what his coach told him or how his ankle felt.

"He told me 'nine outs is our goal with you,'" Glavin said. "But in my head, I knew I wanted to throw the whole thing and that's exactly what my goal was.

"I was fortunate to be able to get the help from the defense to be able to do it."

Salisbury starter Nic Ampietro, on the other hand, endured his worst outing of the year, allowing eight hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings. Loyalsock took advanatge of the high, wet infield grass early in the contest with soft grounders and slow rollers that went for infield singles.

But the Lancers started to put better swings on the ball as the contest moved on, increasing a one-run lead in the first to a five-run advantage after the fourth, knocking out Ampietro.

Tyler Cooperman got Salisbury on the board in the fourth with a two-out single that drove in Ampeitro. The Falcons had their last chance in the sixth inning, as Justin Aungst led off with a one-out single and Mason Kresley followed with a walk. But Zach Seitz, who came into the game 6-for-9 with four RBIs in the playoffs, flied out to right and Cooperman grounded into a fielder's choice, effectively ending any chance of a rally.

After one of the best seasons in school history, Pochron is happy to send his upperclassmen out with a year to remember.

"I'm certainly proud of them," Pochron said. "They had a great season and they're a great bunch of seniors. I couldn't ask anything more than what they gave us over the last four years."

Loyalsock 102 310 1 - 8 15 0

Salisbury 000 100 0 - 1 5 0

Glavin and Moore; Ampietro, Aungst (4), Cooperman (7) and Rogers, W - Glavin. L - Ampietro.