Lisbon pitcher Brady Carpenter throws against East Canton in sectional play Friday. (Special to the Journal/Lowell Spencer)

LISBON — The Lisbon Blue Devils baseball team finished the regular season on quite a roll, having won eight of its last nine regular-season games. But that hot streak came to an end in a hard-fought 5-2 loss to a scrappy 22nd-seeded East Canton Hornets in a Div. VII sectional opener.

With the loss, the 19th-seeded Blue Devils close the season with a 13-9 overall record on the season. And with just one senior on the team, the Blue Devils’ future looks even brighter as they have high hopes for next year.

“Going into today, we had won 10 of our last 12. So, we have been playing some good baseball,” Blue Devils head coach Doug Andric said. “I think we played well today, we hit the ball hard, we just hit it at them. And they got key hits in certain situations with guys on base.”

Andric added, “Today didn’t go the way we wanted, but the kids finished well. I hope they come in with more confidence next year. They played together, so they should jell together next year.”

The Blue Devils stumbled out of the gate this season as they were sitting at 3-6 early on. Then, as they started to gain confidence, they finished the year going 10-3.

“We started off really rough,” junior third baseman Ashton Hinchliffe said. “But as time went on, we started to get better. So that was the important part of our season: improving every game.”

“We improved tremendously,” junior pitcher Brady Carpenter said. “A bunch of our young kids stepped up, and our older kids became leaders both vocally and by example on the field.”

After a back-and-forth battle during the first two innings, the Hornets scored what proved to be the winning runs in the third. Following a walk and a hit batter, Hornets catcher Aiden Kandell laced a one-out line-drive single to center field to drive two Hornets baserunners home and grab a 4-2 lead. They added an insurance run in the fifth frame to increase their advantage to the 5-2 final margin.

“They came up with guys in scoring position, and they got the base hit when they needed it. We did too, but we didn’t have as many opportunities,” Andric said.

“We still felt pretty confident, but it did take a toll on us,” Hinchliffe admitted in getting behind in the game. “We kind of got down, and that happens.”

The Blue Devils appeared to be continuing their hot streak in the bottom of the first inning when Hinchliffe roped an opposite-field line drive to right field that got past the Hornets’ fielder for a two-out triple. Hinchliffe would come home on an errant throw by the Hornets’ shortstop, providing them an early 1-0 lead.

After the Hornets (8-15) scored two runs in the top of the second frame on two hits and a sacrifice fly to seize a 2-1 lead, the Blue Devils responded with a run themselves to knot the game at 2-2. Brady Lively was hit by a pitch with two outs and scored on a Mason Jones RBI single to right center.

After collecting five hits in the first two innings of the game, the Hornet pitchers only surrendered two hits in the final five frames. The Hornet pitchers Hunter Spencer and Eli Starnes also recorded six strikeouts while not issuing any walks.

For the Blue Devils, starting pitcher Carpenter pitched a complete game in suffering the loss. He would surrender just six hits with a walk and three hit batters. He also notched 10 strikeouts, including striking out the side in both the first and fourth innings.

“I got into some walk trouble and hit a couple of kids. I wouldn’t say that I was flustered, but I couldn’t get control of my pitches. But my curveball and my slider were working tonight. I got a lot of swings and misses,” Carpenter said.

Hinchliffe stood out at the plate with two hits, including a double and a triple. He also made a big defensive catch against the fence in the fifth that helped limit any more damage in the frame. Mason Jones would also collect two hits and an RBI to help lead the Blue Devils.

“I saw the fastball well. I was able to turn on it and caught a barrel there,” Hinchliffe said of his extra base hits.

“We are young. We have everybody coming back next year with the exception of Luke (Kraft). Today, we started three freshmen, and I just think that early in the season, we just weren’t used to playing together as a team. A lot of our kids got experience because we played twelve, thirteen kids consistently this year. They are all coming back, so it will be good competition at practice next year,” said Andric on the Blue Devils’ future.

EC: 0-2-2-0-1-0-0–5-6-1

LI: 1-1-0-0-0-0-0–2-7-1

WIN: Hunter Spencer 4IP (1 strikeouts and 0 walks). SAVE: Eli Starnes 3IP (5 strikeouts and 0 walks). LOSS: Brady Carpenter 7IP (10 strikeouts and 1 walk). TWO OR MORE HITS: LISBON-Marc Moore (2), Mason Jones (2), Ashton Hinchliffe (2). DOUBLES: LISBON-Hinchliffe (1). TRIPLES: LISBON-Hinchliffe (1). TWO OR MORE RBI: EAST CANTON- Aiden Kandel (2).