The Falcons didn’t come into the Colonial League baseball playoffs with a lot of momentum.

The regular season ended with losses in four of their last five games. The slide left Salisbury with the fifth seed in the league playoffs and a trip to Palmerton for a league quarterfinal game.

Salisbury (11-9) got good pitching and some timely hitting, but the defense continued to be an issue as five errors led to four unearned runs and a 6-5 loss.

The Falcons scored three first-inning runs against the Blue Bombers as they loaded the bases with nobody out on a hit batter, a single, and a walk.

Michael Stauffer grounded back to the pitcher, but Caleb Gonzalez scored from third on the play for a 1-0 edge. One out later, Owen Fogel doubled to right field to bring in Nate Nunez and Austin Spisszak.

Spisszak got the start and loaded the bases with no outs in the first, allowing a fielder’s choice to bring in a Palmerton run. The senior worked out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.

Salisbury added to its lead in the top of the fifth.

With a runner on third and two out, Markus Jones hit a ball to short that was misplayed and allowed Stauffer, who had opened the inning with a walk, to score to make it 4-1.

Things fell apart for Salisbury in the bottom of the fifth when two errors, the fourth and fifth of the game for the Falcons, helped Palmerton (14-6) to score five runs to take a 6-4 lead. Four of the runs that scored were unearned.

“It’s the same thing all year: our defense hurts us,” Salisbury head coach Justin Aungst told the Times News after the game. “We’ve just got to do a better job of fielding the baseball and making throws. We gave them runs in that inning. We could have minimized it to a couple less.”

The Falcons got a run back in the sixth when Garrett Leiner opened the inning with an infield single. After two pop ups, Spisszak drove in the run with a double to right field, making it a 6-5 game.

Salisbury threatened in the sixth when an error, a walk, and an infield single loaded the bases with one out. A pair of groundballs allowed Palmerton to throw out runners attempting to score.

Salisbury ended the regular season last Wednesday, May 7, with an 8-5 loss to Catasauqua.

The Rough Riders put up four runs in the top of the first inning before Salisbury closed the gap with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first an another in the third.

After Catty scored a run in the top of the fourth, the Falcons tied the game at 5-5 with two runs in the bottom of the inning. The Roughies went ahead with a run in the fifth and added two in the sixth to finish the scoring.

Derek Trinidad went 3-for-4 against Catty, while Dominic Garcia went 2-for-3 in the loss. Michael Stauffer was 1-for-2, but also reached base on two walks and drove in a pair of runs.

Salisbury will play again next week in the District 11 3A tournament. The Falcons will be the three seed and host sixth seeded Pen Argyl in the opening round.