The Fayette Falcons could not hold onto a one-run lead Thursday, giving up four runs in the top of the seventh to fall 4-1 to Prairie Home in Fayette’s final regular-season home game at Estes Field.

“I don't like losing. They don't like losing. This was a tough one because I thought, for the most part, we played really well,” said Fayette coach Andy Oeth. “Defensively, we played well for the most part. We needed to make more adjustments at the plate.”

The Falcons made it to the seventh inning with a one-run lead, but the Prairie Home lineup scored four runs on an error and six singles hit off of freshman reliever Easton Fehling to take a three-run lead. Fayette was unable to answer in the bottom of the seventh as Panthers left-handed junior Carter Pethan retired the Falcon batters in order, striking out two and inducing a fly out to left to leave Estes Field with a 4-1 win.

Fayette scored its only run in the bottom of the third, breaking a scoreless stalemate with a sacrifice fly by junior Caleb Craig to score senior Thomas Elliott from third.

Fayette collected five hits on the day against left-handed starter Jackson Pitts, who kept the Falcon batters off balance with his varied deliveries. The senior allowed just one unearned run and walked one, striking out 12 Fayette batters.

“I think one of our biggest issues that we struggled in this game was that we just weren’t making the adjustments that we needed to make, regardless of if you got a good strike zone or a struggling strike zone,” Coach Oeth said after the game. “We should be able to adjust to that. One of our biggest struggles is watching too many strikes or trying to swing out of our shoes for balls that we probably should just watch.”

Fayette’s five hits came from three batters. Junior Payton Oeth and Elliott each had multi-hit games with two each. Oeth also tripled to the gap in center field in the third, but was stranded on third base. Sophomore Thad Quint had one hit in three at-bats.

Junior Ethan Bean gave a solid performance from the mound, striking out 12 Prairie Home batters in five scoreless innings.

“Ethan did a fantastic job. He struggled there in the middle but for the most part he did well,” said Coach Oeth.

Bean allowed just two hits and walked five before he was pulled with a pitch count of 99 after five complete innings.

Freshman right-hander Easton Fehling got the nod in the sixth. After walking his first two batters, he got out of the jam with three consecutive outs via pop out, fielder’s choice, and a strikeout. But down one run, the Panthers adjusted in the top of the seventh, delivering four unearned runs on five hits as Prairie Home drove ground balls past the Falcons infield.

Coach Oeth said he put a freshman on the mound because he had delivered good innings in his limited varsity experience so far this season. He was among two available pitchers with starters Oeth and Kaleb Friebe unavailable due to previous outings this week.

“We’ve been really impressed with the innings he’s been giving us,” Coach Oeth said. “We felt like Easton was going to be our best option there. He came in and did what we wanted him to do, which was throw strikes and let our defense work. The hits that they got, we had to make some really good plays to even knock them down.”

Fayette enters the final game of the season with a 4-16 record. The Falcons won their season opener at Higbee and won their other games at home. The season finale at Pilot Grove was scheduled for 5 p.m. on Tuesday after the Advertiser went to press.

Fayette returns to Estes Field on Friday to host the Class 2 District 7 Tournament. The Falcons, seeded sixth, face former Lewis & Clark Conference nemesis Marceline (9-13), the third seed. The first pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the semifinals against second-seeded Westran at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Westran and first-seeded Salisbury received first-round byes in the six-team conference. The district tournament bracket appears on Page 9 of this newspaper.