ATHENS — The Washington Blue Lions played their third game in just over a week at Bob Wren Stadium, as they traveled down to Ohio University for a Regional Semifinal baseball contest against Waverly on Thursday afternoon.

The Blue Lions came into the contest fresh off of winning their third-straight District Championship.

Unfortunately, the road would end for Washington on Thursday as they fell to the Tigers, 2-0.

Will Miller started and took the loss for the Blue Lions. He worked all seven innings, allowing two runs (both earned) on four hits, with two walks and eight strikeouts on 95 pitches.

Hunter Hauck earned the win for Waverly on the mound. He pitched all seven innings, allowing no runs on two hits with five walks and three strikeouts on 93 pitches.

Waverly scored both of their runs in the top of the first inning.

Miller walked the leadoff batter, then back-to-back singles loaded the bases with no one out. A sacrifice fly scored the first run, and a ground out would score the second. The next batter struck out to end the top-half of the inning.

With one out in the bottom of the second, Bryce Yeazel singled up the middle and John Wall walked. Sam Lotz flied out to right field and Yeazel was able to tag up and reach third. With two on and two outs, Evan Lynch grounded out to second base to close out the inning.

Miller was able to get the Tigers out in order in the top of the second.

In return, Hauck would retire the Blue Lions in order in the bottom-half.

Waverly would get one runner on in the top of the third, but he never reached scoring position.

Much like the bottom of the second inning, Hauck would retire Washington in order in the bottom of the third.

Waverly led off the top of the fourth with a single, and the runner would advance to second base due to a throwing error. Miller then struck out the next batter, picked off the runner at second, and struck out the following batter to send it to the bottom of the fourth.

After Wall popped out to start, Lotz singled and Lynch walked to put two runners on. Miller then laid down a sacrifice bunt that put runners at second and third with two outs and brought Cooper Robertson to the plate. Robertson made solid contact but hit right to the right fielder to end the scoring threat.

The Tigers had a runner reach base with two outs in the top of the fifth, but he was tagged out on the base paths for the final out.

Bryson Heath drew a walk in the bottom of the fifth with one away, but a strikeout and ground out from the next two batters would send it to the sixth inning.

On nine pitches, Miller would get Waverly out in order in the top of the sixth.

Wall popped out and Lotz grounded out to start the bottom of the sixth inning. With two away, Lynch and Miller drew back-to-back walks, bringing Robertson to the plate with two runners on once again. He would hit a chopper to second base for the final out of the inning.

Miller then recorded a four-pitch inning in the top of the sixth, thanks to a running catch in center field from Lynch and a smooth play at short stop from Wall, followed by a pop out that was retrieved by Wall.

This sent Washington to the plate with their season on the line. Coffman led off and worked a full count, but was called out on strikes. Heath followed with a fly out to right field, and Osborne popped out to the short stop to end the game.

Blue Lion head coach shared some comments following the loss.

”I think the nerves kind of played a factor in the first inning. They got a couple of timely knocks there, a sacrifice fly. We were just unable to get the one breakthrough hit that we had been able to get throughout the postseason. It’s baseball, sometimes. We put the ball in play consistently, we just couldn’t find any green grass so to speak. It’s frustrating, but there is no shame for our group here.

“I’m super proud of these guys, they worked hard from day one and I can’t really ask for more out of a group of boys. They achieved a lot, and not many people gave them a chance to achieve what they did. They used that as motivation and they excelled for the most part.”

He spoke about his departing seniors.

“It’s tough, because I have been coaching this group of seniors since they were nine years old. We have a pretty good bond, and it’s tough to think about not being able go between the lines with them ever again. To my knowledge, they are the only group in school history to win three District titles. That’s a pretty high achievement for that group. I was able to have a lot of success as a player, but I didn’t win three District titles. I just couldn’t ask for anything more, they were an awesome group of kids and an awesome group of parents. It’s been a super experience.”

Offensively for Washington, Yeazel and Lotz had the two hits for the team.

Lynch drew two walks, and Wall, Miller and Heath each drew one. Both Heath and Lynch recorded a stolen base.

The Blue Lions end their season with a record of 17-9 and say goodbye to seniors John Wall, Evan Lynch, Bryce Yeazel, Hunter Hinkley and Kylen Eskins.