SALISBURY TOWNSHIP — Entering the final week of the regular season, the Carbon Monarchs are looking for a couple wins to enhance their standing going into the postseason.

They traveled to Salisbury High School Wednesday, and after battling from behind, fell to the Falcons 6-4.

Starter Mason Goida had a shaky first inning, when he allowed two walks and a single and Salisbury used a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly to score a run. Goida settled in and put down Salisbury in order in the second before his defense abandoned him in the third, making two errors, one of which was on Goida.

A leadoff single turned into two bases when the ball bounded away from left fielder Brad Buzzard. Goida then attempted to pick off the runner at second and threw the ball into center field, allowing Joe Galantini to head to third. Two outs later, it appeared that the Monarchs were out of the inning when Taylor Linn hit a hard line drive to first that popped out of the glove of Dan Keer allowing Galantini to score on the play and make it 2-0 in favor of Salisbury.

“Our defense really has been pretty good this season,” said coach Don Rehrig, who saw his team fall to 7-8. “We had a few mistakes that inning but Mason was pitching pretty well. He just needs to learn to mix his pitches a little better because guys were sitting on his fastball.”

Carbon’s offense erased the deficit in the third when they put together a two-run inning and chased starter Linn from the game. Buzzard led off with a double and moved to third on a single by Aaron Miller. Salisbury allowed Miller to advance to second on a defensive indifference and Wyatt Zimmerman followed with an RBI single to right to score Buzzard. Miller then scored to tie the game 2-2 when the ball was bobbled by right fielder Ryan Miller.

With new life, Carbon looked to keep Salisbury off the board, but the Falcons offense exploded in the fourth to score four runs. Salisbury bunched a double and three singles in a row before getting a sacrifice fly and another RBI single to stretch it to a 6-2 lead.

“That’s a spot where after you come back and tie the game, you really need to go out and keep the other team off the board. They’re a good team and they played really well today and as soon as we responded, they responded with that big inning,” Rehrig said.

Quinn Warmkessel, who relieved Linn in the fourth, was able to handle the Monarchs’ hitters in the fifth and sixth. Justin Mahmde came on to pitch in the fifth for Carbon and allowed a couple of base runners but kept Salisbury (12-2) off the board. He then put the Falcons down in order in the bottom of the sixth to give the Monarchs one last chance.

Down by four, the seventh started with a walk. Warmkessel responded by striking out pinch-hitter Josh Robin for the first out of the inning. Goida then singled to put runners on first and second and a fielder’s choice ground ball moved both runners up a base with two outs. Keer then stepped to the plate and lined a shot off the second baseman’s glove that wound up in short right field and pushed two runs across to make it 6-4. Buzzard then lifted a fly ball to right that Miller was able to get under to end the game.

“We had the right guys coming to the plate when we got our top of the order up in the seventh,” said Rehrig. “We hit some balls hard in that inning but didn’t find enough holes. You have to like the fact that the guys played hard and worked their way back in this one.”

OFF THE BASES ... In the first meeting of the two teams, won by Salisbury 11-2, the Monarchs stranded 12 runners on base. This time around, they left just five on base and swung the bats much better.

EVERYBODY PLAYS ... All 10 LVL teams will qualify for the postseason this year in a double-elimination tournament. Carbon currently holds the seventh seed. Salisbury figures to have locked up the regular season title, but unlike other years, the regular-season champion is not guaranteed a spot in the state’s postseason.

Carbon 000 200 2 - 4 6 3

Salisbury 101 400 x - 6 8 1

Goida, Mahmde (5) and Taras; Linn, Warmkessel (4) and DuBois. W - Warmkessel. L - Goida.