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The Eagles were hurt early by a couple of fielding mistakes, but were hurt more by the bats of the North Huron Warriors. The Eagle baseball team fell in the Division 4 Regional semifinal at Bay City All Saints, 11-2, to the Warriors. The host Cougars from All Saints went on to take the title with a 3-1 decision over North Huron in the title game.

"We came out ready to play and the guys provided a lot of energy," said Deckerville coach Steve Noble. "But, things did not go our way.

"We didn't put the ball in play, and that's the bottom line. We didn't do that and didn't put pressure on the defense to make mistakes," Noble added. "When you get to Regionals, you have to do that."

Three unearned runs, on three Deckerville errors, led to a 3-1 North Huron lead after two innings. The Warriors scored twice on just one hit in the opening inning off Eagles freshman starter Nick Taylor. Deckerville came back in the second inning to make it 2-1 on a single by David Ruggles, a sacrifice bunt from Tony Santana and a two-out base hit by Cody Hoff. North Huron (24-8) made it 3-1 in the bottom of the second on a single, a throwing error and a ground out.

North Huron's bats and the pitching of Mike Nienaltowski then took over.

The Warriors scored once in the third on an RBI triple from Anthony Irvine and then broke the game open with four runs in the fourth, three coming on Irvine's home run to right field.

Irvine's home run came with two outs and following a controversial call. The Warrior's leadoff batter of the inning, Jon Iseler, reached base on a single, but then looked to be the second out of the inning when trying to steal second. Eagle catcher Eddy Zapinski's throw to second was in time for the tag but the umpire ruled Iseler safe. Iseler eventually scored, and one out later, Irvine homered.

Noble said the 'safe' call on the steal turned the complexion of the inning, and perhaps the game. But, he also said that Irvine had a great swing on the pitch.

"The kid hit a great pitch - a fastball on the outside corner. He took itt he other way over the fence. How many high school kids do that?"

The Eagles added just one more run. Junior Cam O'Mara singled to lead-off the sixth and eventually raced home on a North Huron error.

Deckerville had just five hits off Nienaltowski and freshman reliever Eric Dhyse. Two of those were off the bat of O'Mara. Nienaltowski, a junior, pitched the first five innings and gave up three hits while fanning seven.

"(Nienaltowski) was not overpowering, but he was able to put his breaking ball across the plate, and we were watching too many of them," noted Noble.

Irvine, another junior, led a 13-hit Warrior attack by going 3-for3 and driving in five runs.

The Eagles, who finished the season with a 13-22 record, took another step in Noble's rebuilding plan with the baseball program. Noble said the District title and playing in the Regional should be beneficial.

"It was nice to come out of the season with a taste of what tournaments are like," said Noble. "We have a lot of good things to take into next season, and we have a lot of good kids coming back."