The Fountain Hills High School varsity baseball season came to a close last weekend. The No. 21 Falcons split their final two regular season games 1-1, and then the Falcons lost 7-4 to No. 12 Tanque …
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The Fountain Hills High School varsity baseball season came to a close last weekend. The No. 21 Falcons split their final two regular season games 1-1, and then the Falcons lost 7-4 to No. 12 Tanque Verde in the play-in tournament last Saturday, April 30.
On Monday, April 25, the Falcons traveled to region opponent Camp Verde. The game was low scoring through the first five innings, but there were 27 scored runs in the final two innings.
The Falcons led 5-4 after five innings, then scored six in the sixth inning. The Falcons held the Cowboys to two runs in the bottom of the inning, and then Fountain Hills exploded for 10 more runs in the seventh inning. The Falcons would outlast Camp Verde, who scored nine runs in the seventh, to win 21-15.
Senior Zack Langer, junior Devyn Hernandez and sophomore Tyler Langer all led with four hits. Zack Langer had two RBIs and a double, Hernandez had four RBIs and a double, and Tyler Langer had five RBIs and a double and triple.
Sophomore David Goldapper led all pitchers with 12 strikeouts on the afternoon. Goldapper pitched just over four innings, and freshman Aidan Cronican threw two more in one inning pitched.
After the win over Camp Verde, the Falcons moved to 6-4 and third in region play. They then hosted No. 5 Pusch Ridge in the final home game of the season, and the Falcons lost 13-0 on Wednesday, April 27.
The Falcons never found their rhythm against the Lions. The local boys only had two hits total, one from Zack Langer and the other from junior Zack Mendello. The Falcons used four pitchers, none going two full innings, and they only threw one strikeout on the day.
After the tough loss, the No. 21 Falcons watched to see who their opponent would be in the first round of the postseason. They were matched with No. 12 Tanque Verde, and they drove down to Tucson this past Saturday for a road game.
The Falcons found themselves in early trouble, as the Hawks scored five runs in the second inning. The Falcons also let Pusch Ridge take an early 8-0 lead in the third inning of that game, but this time the Falcons’ defense and offense came alive to give them a chance.
The Falcons only allowed one more run in the fourth, and another in the sixth, but the Falcons were able to get offensive output from the Langer brothers and sophomore Tyler Flynn. The three accounted for all five team hits and all three team RBIs.
Flynn hit a double and got one RBI, and Tyler Langer had two hits, a double and one RBI. Zack Langer had two hits, both being doubles, and one RBI.
Sophomore Lucas Williams was the opening pitcher for the Falcons, and he lasted an inning and two outs. Williams had one walk and zero strikeouts. Senior Brogan Hardison pitched two full innings and threw one strikeout and one walk. Goldapper pitched two innings and one out and threw five walks and three strikeouts.
The Falcons finished this season with an 11-14 record. The Falcons lost their first five games, and then won their next five. They won six of their last 11 games, and the Falcons won four out of seven home games.
The Falcons last missed playoffs in the 2020 season for COVID-19. Before that, the last time the Falcons missed the postseason was 2017-18, when the team had an 11-14 record, the same as this year.
The Falcons had six upperclassmen this year, three seniors and three juniors. Depending on the pitcher, the Falcons sometimes had three freshmen in their infield between third base freshman starter Lucas Grieco and shortstop freshman starter Cooper Loyet.
Underclassmen handled pitching duties most of the year. Hardison had nine appearances on the mound, and junior Kyle Biebrich had two pitching appearances, but sophomores Goldapper and Williams each had 14 pitcher appearances. Sophomore Nathan Hughes added 13 appearances and Cronican had 10.
The Falcons will have double digits in terms of returning players next season. Many of them will have a full year or more of experience by then. Brogan Hardison, Andy Lloyd and Zack Langer will be hard to replace following their graduations, but the Falcons know they have the numbers and talent on their roster to do just that.
