The Salisbury Falcons’ baseball regular season ended with their third consecutive loss and a 9-4 defeat to rival Southern Lehigh on Monday at Salisbury High School.

The Falcons finished with a 7-13 overall record and a 6-11 Colonial League mark.

The season finale was competitive until the sixth inning. With the Falcons trailing 3-2, the Spartans pushed across a run when a Falcon outfield throw missed the cutoff man. With a 4-2 advantage and one runner on base, Southern Lehigh’s Ashton Levy hit a laser over the left-center field fence off Salisbury starter Quinn Warmkessel for a 6-2 lead.

The Spartans weren’t finished as they pounded out another three hits and scored three additional runs in the frame, while also chasing Warmkessel.

“It’s been the same pretty much all year,” said first-year Falcon manager Justin Aungst. “We compete in pretty much every single game we play in, in some capacity, and then unfortunately we find an inning or two where things don’t go our way. We make a few mistakes and things spiral.”

Some of the sizzle has recently gone out of the Salisbury-Southern Lehigh rivalry, as the Spartans have dominated the diamond. In Monday’s game, the Falcons fell behind early as Warmkessel gave up two runs in the first. But the right-hander settled down, getting ahead of most hitters for the next four innings by weaving his pitches in-and-out, changing speeds and throwing some old-fashioned heat to Spartan hitters.

Warmkessel threw 18 first-pitch strikes in his 5.2 innings while striking out two. He also utilized his own fielding acumen three times in those four innings.

In the fifth, a frozen rope RBI triple by Southern Lehigh’s Landon Bealer with two outs gave the Spartans a 3-2 advantage they would never give up. But Warmkessel stayed focused and got the final out to keep the game competitive. Coming into the Southern Lehigh finale, Warmkessel had struck out 28 while walking only seven in 20 innings to earn a 1-0 record and 4.55 E.R.A.

The Falcons plated the first of their four runs in the second inning. Lead off batter Andrew Grejda reached on a throwing error. After Thomas Lovelidge fouled out, Timothy Schware slapped an opposite-field double to right moving Grejda to third. Moments later, Grejda scored on a sacrifice line out off Jordan Tocci’s’ bat, which left Salisbury trailing 2-1.

In the last of the third, Salisbury used back-to-back singles from Hunter Rothrock and Warmkessel to start a rally. After a Jacob Bucchin whiff, Lucas Graver reached on another Southern Lehigh throwing error to juice the bases. Moments later, Grejda hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Rothrock who tied the game at 2-2. But the Falcons stranded the two remaining runners and never got closer to taking a lead. They added their final two runs in the seventh after the game’s outcome was virtually determined.

“Being a young team I’m hoping that we learn from our mistakes,” said Aungst. “I hope we fix them up and grow as a team next year.”

Southern Lehigh starting pitcher Wyatt Yaindl earned the victory, pitching five innings and striking out five. The Spartans’ win gave them an 11-4 overall record and a 9-1 Colonial League mark.