Coach Eric Burle can’t help but feel like his team was a victim of circumstance.When the Class 3 District 7 baseball semifinal was halted on Monday, Warrenton had a firm grip on the momentum.A game that was being dictated by solid pitching and crisp fielding was continually interrupted when the lights at host Winfield’s facilities kept malfunctioning. Eventually, much to Burle’s discontent, the game was postponed to Tuesday, deadlocked in a 1-1 tie against St. Dominic.“I felt great yesterday,” said Burle. “In each of the innings we had a runner on base, and in the third inning we had bases loaded with nobody out against a pretty good pitcher. So, we were showing that we weren’t backing down.”When the game resumed in the top of the fourth inning on Tuesday, one uncharacteristic inning sent the Warriors home with a 4-1 loss.On Monday, junior Ben Stephens took command on the mound following a shaky first inning. Even then, the damage was limited as St. Dominic pushed one runner across home after a lead-off double.“Ben was on a roll,” asserted Burle. “He had retired the last seven batters and wasn’t giving them much outside of that first inning, so you felt good about what we were doing.”The Warriors countered in the bottom of the third, with Hunter Russell leading off with a single. Hunter Capstick then reached on a fielder’s choice and Dallas Johnson singled, before Brandon Moeller contributed a sacrifice RBI.“We got a run in during that third inning and were aggressive on the base paths,” said Burle. “You appreciate the aggressiveness of trying to make something happen.”Ultimately, Stephens struck out five and walked just one through three and a third innings.When the Warriors returned on Tuesday, Moeller took the mound with the idea of Stephens being rested for a potential championship game appearance.Burle says he tried to keep his team’s focus and hoped the momentum would somehow sustain.“We tell the kids all the time to control the things they can, and that’s something you can’t control, unfortunately,” said Burle. “You have to believe good things would come out of yesterday, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”Moeller came out firing, retiring the first six batters he faced before St. Dominic began to find a rhythm and took advantage of Warrenton’s fielding mishaps. The Crusaders needed just one hit to push across three runs thanks to the help of erroneous throws.“We made some mistakes that were really uncharacteristic that inning,” said Burle. “I don’t know if it was youth or the pressure of the situation, but we let them get three runs across with only one solid hit.”Warrenton was never able to respond, placing just one runner on base on Tuesday, with Johnson hitting a single.“Ultimately, you’ve got to score more than one run to win games,” said Burle. “We had some sharply hit balls that hit the turf and slowed up a little bit.”Johnson had also collected a hit on Monday, along with Russell.“You hate to make excuses, but we felt really good about the flow of the game yesterday,” said Burle. “We weren’t intimidated and were getting great at-bats.”He says the past two seasons have been a promising rise for the program.“These guys have nothing to hang their heads about,” said Burle. “Back-to-back winning seasons is a big accomplishment, and this is one of the toughest districts out there.”WARRIORS SEASON ENDSBill Barrett Photo.