By DAN HOEHNE
daniel.hoehne@newssun.com
It came to an end Tuesday night, the Highlands United attempt at a Dixie Majors World Series championship, as a late charge came up just short in a 6-5 loss to Paris, Texas.
With a Sunday loss already on their record, Heartland Baseball faced elimination every ensuing time out.
But they came back firing on all cylinders Monday, taking two lopsided wins, but fell into a hole early Tuesday, as Texas plated four first-inning runs.
Chase Harvey knocked a two-run homer out of the park, Colby Rose singled home a run and Logan Warren hit a sacrifice fly for another to stake Texas to the early lead.
Evan Lewis singled with one out in the bottom of the first, stole second and reached third on a Drew Reeves grounder, but was left stranded.
It stayed 4-0 into the top of the third, when Harvey singled home a run to edge it to 5-0 and another score in the fourth made it a 6-0 deficit for Team Florida.
The Heartland offense, so productive with back-to-back 10-run games on Monday, couldn't get anything going, and as the innings continued without a score, time began to dwindle away.
But a spark of life came in the sixth when Lewis, Reeves and Jesse Baker loaded the bases and a Brandon Rhea fielder's choice brought Lewis in.
Reeves would soon score on an error and Lane Crosson hit a sacrifice fly to score Rhea and cut the lead in half at 6-3.
Nate Greene, on in long relief since the third, held Texas down in their final at bat, giving the Highlands County squad one last chance.
Ty Jackson reached on an error to start the bottom of the seventh and gave way to pinch runner Raymond Aguilar, who soon advanced to second on a balk and to third on a ground-out.
He would then score on another ground out to make it 6-4 with one out remaining.
Lewis brought the team a bit closer, belting a line-drive home run over the left field fence.
But that would be the last stand as Texas starter Jeff King finished his complete-game effort on a fly out to deep center.
Still, it was a fantastic effort throughout by the Heartland squad, continuing to battle back throughout the tournament and enjoying every moment until the final out was made.
"This was my first time being in a World Series and it was a blast with this group of guys," Abeln said. "The competition was good, but if we had played our best ball, errorless ball, we were the best team there. It didn't fall our way, but that's the great thing about baseball. It was a great atmosphere and who knew that us rival players would come together and do this. We are looking forward to next year and making another run at it."
Jesse Baker had a similar view on the event.
"It was a great experience with a lot of lessons learned," he said. "We fought hard and never gave up until the last out was made. It will be something that every person here will look back on one day and cherish."
Friday, August 03, 2012 - www.newssun.com/FRI-8-3-12-DixieMajors