BURNS — The Wallowa Valley baseball team didn’t have the fortune it did when it played Vale a month ago. Now, the Eagles have a first-round playoff matchup against the top team in 3A.

Vale took the lead for good with a four-run third inning, then held on when the Eagles rallied in the seventh to grab a 5-4 win in the early game of the Special District 2 tournament Friday, May 20, in Burns.

Vale went on to face — and eventually lose to — Burns 12-2 in the championship game, and will travel in the first round of the state playoffs May 25.

Wallowa Valley scored twice in the third — including on an RBI single by Maclane Melville — to take a 2-0 lead.

The lead didn’t last long, as the Vikings scored four times in the home half of the third and took the lead for good on Kade Kurata’s two-run triple, which made it 3-2. Kurata later scored on a sacrifice fly.

Jackson Decker got a run back for Wallowa Valley on an error in the fourth, but the Eagles gave a run back on a Kurata sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Wallowa Valley had a last chance in the seventh when Jaxon Grover reached on a one-out error, stole second, and scored on a two-out error, but the Eagles couldn’t push the tying run across.

Grover was a tough-luck loser on the mound, allowing four earned runs on five hits in six innings, walking one and striking out three.

Wallowa Valley (14-11 overall), the No. 16 seed in the playoffs, makes a trip across the state to face top-seed Cascade Christian in the first round May 25 in Medford. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m.

A lockdown performance by Drew Beachy and timely hitting was enough to propel the Wallowa Valley baseball team into the Special District 5 semifinal and lock up a state playoff berth.

Beachy struck out 12 batters and allowed just one hit over 6⅓ innings as the Eagles took down Irrigon at home Tuesday, May 17, 2-0.

Beachy walked three, hit a batter and only allowed a first-inning single to Irrigon’s Spencer Stewart. He struck out at least two batters in four innings, with the two biggest ones coming in the fourth inning as he worked out of a jam. A walk and an error put two with nobody out before Beachy recorded back-to-back strikeouts to help stall the rally. A walk loaded the bases, but he forced a ground ball to get out of the inning unscathed.

The Knights’ only other serious offensive threat came in the seventh, with a one-out single and a walk by relief pitcher Grover opening the door for Irrigon. But Grover came back to strike out the next two batters to end the game.

Melville provided all the offense Wallowa Valley needed in the first, with an RBI single scoring Grover — who was hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch — for a 1-0 lead.

Grover helped add some insurance in the third when he hit a one-out triple and scored on a Spencer Decker sacrifice fly for the final margin.

He and Melville both finished with two hits, while the rest of the team went a combined 1-for-16.

Boyd Davis was a tough-luck loser on the hill for Irrigon, allowing two-runs on five hits with one walk and 12 strikeouts in six innings.