Head coach Mike Pochron stated that the way his team played during last week's District 11 Class AA quarterfinals matchup against North Schuylkill was indicative of its play the last couple weeks of the season.

Plagued by inconsistent defense to close out the regular season, Salisbury saw those issues creep up once again as postseason play got underway.

Unfortunately, the Falcons weren't able to recover from those miscues and mistakes.

The Falcons had a chance to recover from a quick 4-0 North Schuylkill lead as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Salisbury was never able to get that clutch hit when it mattered most. The No. 5 seeded Spartans (14-7) got out of the jam, handing the No. 4 seeded Falcons (13-8) an early exit from the district tournament by a 6-4 final last Wednesday at Salisbury High School.

"This game pretty much wraps up the way our last couple weeks have been, and pretty much the way our season went overall," Pochron said. "Although in the beginning of the year we were playing good defense, the last couple of weeks we've been with three or four errors every game."

The Spartans jumped on the Falcons with two runs in each of the first two innings. While starting pitcher Justin Aungst allowed five hits in the first two frames, a number of infield errors were just as costly.

Two Spartan batters reached base in the first two innings via errors and came around to score in the inning. The Falcons committed two more errors, one in the third and one in the sixth without any harm, but the damage had already been done.

After allowing those four runs, the Falcons put together a stretch on both sides that was indicative of their recent championship-esque play in past years.

Nick Sikora's sacrifice fly scored Charley Rogers in the bottom of the second to start a string of three-consecutive innings with a run scored. Brad Vangeli-who went 3-for-3 on the day with a walk-scored in the third after Aungst reached base on an error. In the fourth, Alex Nicholas' fielder's choice scored Mike Palmer to make it a 4-3 game.

On the mound, Aungst settled down. He pitched hitless third and fourth innings while striking out three Spartan batters. Facing a one-run deficit, the tide had suddenly swung to the home team.

But when the Spartans came to bat in the fifth, the momentum shifted back over to North Schuylkill with one swing of the bat. Tom Gallagher launched a two-run homerun to left field that scored Alex Hummel, giving the Spartans some breathing room at 6-3.

"He settled down there," Pochron said of Aungst, "and then we had that one big hit."

The Falcons added a run in the sixth on Chap Cooperman's groundout, but were never able to put together any large threat against North Schuylkill offensively. The Falcons left 11 runners on base.

"All year it's been, we need a hit with guys in scoring position," Pochron said. "We had opportunities upon opportunities again. Today's game pretty much sums up the season.

"We would get a guy on to lead the inning, then we would get two outs, and then someone gets a single instead of building that big inning."

Rogers and Palmer both went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

It's been quite some time since the Falcons have gone without a championship of some sort. For the current group of seniors, it'll be the first time in four years without a title. They won district crowns in both 2011 and 2013, while adding a league championship in 2012.

"It's always disappointing because every year is a different year," Pochron said. "We're certainly disappointed in the season. I thought we'd go a little bit further and at least have a shot in the league, and I thought we'd get a district game. But it wasn't to be today."