By Moses Leos III

A furious three run rally in the sixth inning couldn’t keep the Hays Rebels’ comeback effort afloat as they fell to the Bowie Bulldogs 4-3 in Monday’s regular season finale. 

With the defeat, Hays finishes the regular season 12-13-1 and 10-6 in 14-6A play.

Monday’s game, which was rescheduled after weather pushed the game back from April 19, saw Hays and Bowie go scoreless through the first three innings.

Hays head coach James Howard said the team was pressing during the game and made mistakes early in the contest.

Bowie drew first blood when they tallied four runs in the top of the fourth off of Rebel pitcher Mike Martinez, who went seven innings in the loss.

But the Rebel defense shut the door thereafter, holding Bowie scoreless the rest of the way. Hays’ defense was aided by two key plays at the plate by junior Cole Irby in the sixth frame.

Hays responded in the bottom of the sixth by scoring three runs to cut Bowie’s lead to 4-3.

Howard said squaring up balls and “getting guys in play” spurred the rally.

But Hays couldn’t muster enough runs to complete the comeback in the seventh.

Howard said Tuesday’s game resembled a playoff atmosphere, but he felt the team didn’t react well to it.

“We came out with emotions on our sleeve and we played uncharacteristic baseball and made some mistakes that cost of the game,” Howard said. “We can’t do that.”