Foster rallies past Ricebirds in seventh
Ricebirds lead entire game until Falcons' last-inning effort

L-N Photo by Kris Bagley Safe On The Base Tyler Socha slides safely back to first base during a Foster pick-off play. With Socha's speed, the Falcons never had a chance.

Friday was full of heartbreak for the Ricebirds, who fell at the last possible moment to Foster at Richmond.

El Campo played a solid game throughout the night and suffered against the Falcon's clutch hitting in the bottom of the seventh for a 5-4 loss.The Ricebirds took charge early with two runs in the first inning.

With one out, Blake Korenek hit a single and Landon Appling followed with a triple to bring him home.

Appling scored in the next at-bat when Bryan Skow hit into a fielder's choice. He hit a ground ball to the first baseman who was off the bag. He made a toss to Foster's pitcherer, who ran to first for the out while Appling ran home.

The 'Birds had a chance to keep the rally going, but Foster held strong for two outs and kept the score at 2-0.

Andrew Kinder started the game for El Campo and gave the Ricebirds several solid innings of pitching. He got the first three batters out on ground balls in the first inning and only gave up two hits through the first four innings.

El Campo scored again in the third inning on another blast by Skow.

Korenek claimed first base on an error by Foster's shortstop and moved over to second in the next at-bat. Appling hit a ground ball to the pitcher and was out at first while Korenek claimed his base.

Skow belted a triple for his second RBI of the game. The next two batters popped out to the shortstop to end the inning with the Ricebirds up 3-0.

Foster's bats finally clicked in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Falcon's first batter was hit by a wild pitch and the second barely beat out a fielder's choice to put runners on first and second base. A walk in the third at-bat loaded the bases and set up two scores.

Back-to-back singles brought in a pair of runs for the Falcons before El Campo could finish the inning. Foster struck, but the Ricebirds still had a 3-2 lead.

The 'Birds earned a little insurance in the top of the sixth inning.

Kinder led off with a walk and Cullen Pickett came in to run for him.

The next at-bat was an out, but Taylor Graham walked to put runners on first and second base.

Chris Quinn came through with the hit for a run in the next at-bat. He sent a shot straight to Foster's shortstop, who couldn't make a play. Pickett came in on the error and the Ricebirds extended their lead to 4-2 by the end of the inning.

El Campo held off Foster in the bottom of the sixth and was scoreless in the top of the seventh.

With only half an inning to play, the Falcons staged a great comeback.

Foster's first batter led off with a double and came home on a single in the next atbat. The score cut El Campo's lead to 4-3.

The following batter drew a walk to put two runners on base.

The Ricebirds got the next batter to pop out to the shortstop, but the fifth at-bat of the inning was a walk to load the bases.

El Campo set up for the double play ball to hopefully end the inning and earn a hard-fought win, but the night belonged to the Falcons.

A ground ball hit into the infield resulted in an error and Foster scored two runs to end the game and defeat the Ricebirds 5-4.

The 'Birds played at Katy late last night against Seven Lakes and will return home Friday to host the Spartans.

Next week is El Campo's final two regular season games. The Ricebirds start the week by hosting Lamar Consolidated Tuesday and will end the season at Rosenberg against the Mustangs April 25.