On a rare sunny day in March, the Falcon baseball team opened their season with a win Monday.
After giving up three runs in the first inning to host Anacortes, the Falcons fought their way back into the game with solid pitching and some timely seventh-inning hitting.
With senior pitcher Bryan Wenker settled in after being victimized by Seahawk batters early, the Falcons got one run back in the second inning on two walks and a Seahawk error. Then in the fourth inning, South Whidbey again threatened when Eric Flister and Andrew Mathis walked. Sophomore Dane Guetlin turned the threat into runs on the board with a base hit that knocked Flister home. A throwing error led to the second run in the inning.
Annacortes went back up with a fifth-inning run, but in the top of the seventh, the trailing Falcons picked up two more for the go-ahead. Again the Annacortes pitching staff walked two Falcon hitters, who would later score off base hits by Levi Egerton and Mathis, whose hit brought in the winning run.
Michael Lodell, who was 2-for-5 at the plate, and Guetlin, who was 2-for-4, led in the hitting department.
Senior pitcher Josh Coleman picked up his first varsity win, giving up just one run in three innings of work. He also struck out four hitters and fanned the last Annacortes hitter in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded.
The Falcons play next Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. when they open league play with their home opener against Mount Baker.