As good as the start to the baseball season was for Lexington High, the end was nearly as bad for coach Matt Dierking’s team.

The Bulldogs won their first eight games but dropped seven of their final nine, including a walk-off 6-5 loss to Alva at districts April 30 to finish with 21 victories and 15 defeats.

Six of those losses came against Class 3A No. 1 Marlow, No. 8 Davis, and No. 16 Lindsay, all teams that advanced to this week’s area tournament.

“We played some good teams down the stretch,” Dierking told The Register. “The easier part of our schedule was up front.”

Lexington scored twice in the top of the seventh to take a 5-3 lead, but the Goldbugs responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning — all with two outs — against Bulldogs starter Colby Haynes.

Colin Houk homered for Lexington while Haynes and Cody Rollins each had two doubles and an RBI.

Lexington opened district play with a come-from-behind 10-8 win over Alva on April 29 but was no-hit in a 15-0 loss to Class 3A No. 2 Washington.

Lexington trailed Alva 7-2 after four innings but answered with five runs in the fifth. Haynes hit a two-run double to make it 7-5, then stole third and scored on a passed ball to cut the deficit to a single run.

Rhydon Foutch doubled home Cameron Haley with the tying run, and Lexington added a run in the sixth inning and two runs in the seventh to secure the victory.

James McMillan earned the win in relief of starter Kash Klupenger, allowing just one hit and no earned runs in 3.2 innings of work.

“We played hard, came back and pitched really well,” Dierking said. “(James) came in and pitched very well and held them down.”

Washington starter Owen Andrews held the Bulldogs hitless, striking out 13 batters in five innings.

The Warriors scored four runs in the second inning and 11 runs in the fourth against three Lexington pitchers.

“He was a walk away from a perfect game,” Dierking said. “Owen pitched really well. I would say he’s the best pitcher we’ve faced all year by far. Owen is just in control of the mound, he was great.”

Defense and pitching cost Dierking’s team some key games, and the Bulldogs made a quick postseason exit for the second straight year.

Still, Lexington exceeded 20 wins for the second time in three seasons.

“I think it was a good year,” he said. “We had 21 wins, so you never knock that. The bad thing was our pitching. That’s what we don’t have ... that’s what I’ll need to develop next year is pitching.”

Dierking loses three starters in Haynes, the team’s primary pitcher, along with Haley and Caydn Krueger. But the Bulldogs return their starting infield and pitchers McMillan and Klupenger, who only pitched 19 innings all season because of arm troubles.

“He’s still not fully able to go yet,” Dierking said.

Hitting was not a problem for the Bulldogs, who had four players average .320 or higher.

McMillan hit .433 to lead the team, followed by Fouch at .328, Klupenger  at .323 and Rollins at .321. Haynes wasn’t far behind, with a .317 average.

The team hit 15 home runs, and Haynes (38) and Krueger (36) drove in the most runs for the ‘Dawgs.