Freedom had experienced the pitching of Travis Van Houten earlier this year and they got a dose of the Pleasant Valley right-hander Monday afternoon in the opening round of the District 11 4A playoffs.

After losing to Van Houten and Pleasant Valley 5-2 in the regular season, the sixth-seeded Patriots couldn't solve him on Monday either, falling in a 3-2 affair to end their season.

The Bears (eleventh-seed) used a three-run fourth inning to catapult ahead of the Pates and pitcher Zak Gagnon and held on for the win to advance to today's district quarterfinals against third-seeded Easton.

The loss was a tough pill to swallow for Freedom head coach Nick D'Amico, as their season concludes at 13-9 overall.

"It's nothing to hold our heads down for because our guys played a great baseball game," said D'Amico. "We just didn't get many hits and when you can't come up with key hits against a great pitcher you have to give credit to them.

"I can't take anything away from our guys because they gave 100-percent and played their hearts out. We just didn't do enough to win."

Freedom took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but the Bears top of the fourth became the eventual deciding frame to victory.

Brett Hardy and Kieran Kearns each knocked in RBI singles and Tyler Martin provided a sac-bunt RBI to put PV up 3-1 in a rough frame for Gagnon, who went the distance on the mound, giving up five hits, three runs, five walks and striking out six.

Jake Young brought the Pates back within a run after smacking an RBI double in the fifth to make it 3-2, but it wasn't enough for Freedom's bats, as the Pates were only able to muster four hits off Van Houten, who also struck out six.

"He [Van Houten] pitched against us before this season, so we knew what we were getting into," D'Amico said. "We didn't take them lightly. We knew they were a very good team and unfortunately he shut us down again."

With the season ending, D'Amico looks back with disappointment of not moving on, but was proud of how his team battled.

"We had energy all day," he said. "We had a chance to win and you can't fault the kids because they tried, but we just couldn't come up with the clutch hit."