The pre-district season of the Fairfield high school Eagles baseball team concluded last week with a pair of wins, a loss and a rainout.

Diamond action was busy during spring break to prepare the Eagles for the 20-AAA opener this week against the Palestine Wildcats.

“We had a good week. I think we learned a lot about ourselves,” head coach Bill Crawford says. “All year we have struggled to finish games. We would lead almost every game, but one or two bad innings and we would be behind.”

At the start of last week, the Eagles beat Waco Connally 10-9 at home.

Fairfield jumped out to a 5-0 lead the first inning, fell behind 8-0 in the top of the sixth and answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to steal the win.

In the first inning, Caleb Gunnels led off with a walk and moved to third on a Cullen Minze single. Minze stole second and Cooper Vandiver drew a walk to load the bases.

A 2-RBI single by Evan Simpson scored Gunnels and Minze, Dane Blackwood walked to reload the bases and Josh Brown reached base on a fielder’s choice that scored Vandiver. With the bases still loaded, Justin Terry doubled to score Vandiver and Blackwood.

Connally tallied a run in the second inning and one in the fourth to cut the lead to 5-2 before the Eagles crossed home again.

The bottom of the fourth saw Terry lead off with a single and move to second on a bunt by Garret Wickens, then score on a single by Gunnels.

Minze rapped a 2-out double to score Gunnels and Vandiver drove in Minze with a hard shot to second that the Connally fielder could not handle, giving the Eagles an 8-2 lead.

However, Connally scored five runs in the top of the fifth and two in the top of the sixth to take the lead.

Fairfield answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie, when Gunnels led off with a single, moved to third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a bunt by Vandiver.

In the bottom of the seventh, Michael Mooneyham and Terry drew walks and Wickens loaded the bases when he reached first on a bunt. With one out, Gunnels bunted Mooneyham home for the win.

“Connally gave us confidence we can do different things to score runs and win games, instead of losing them,” Crawford says.

Against the Mexia Blackcats on the road Thursday, the Eagles let a 14-7 lead slip away to lose 16-15.

Fairfield opened the contest with three runs in the first inning. Gunnels walked, stole second and moved to third on a ground ball out, Mooneyham was hit by a pitch and stole second, and Simpson reached on an error to score Gunnels. Blackwood grounded out to score Mooneyham and Terry singled in Simpson.

Mexia answered with three runs in the bottom of the first to tie the game and the Eagles tallied one in the second to retake the lead. Wickens doubled and scored on a single by Minze.

The Blackcats added four runs in the bottom of the third inning to put the Eagles behind again at 7-4.

Fairfield scored eight runs in the top of the fourth for a 12-7 advantage. Terry, Aaron Jones and Andrew Myers singled, Moneyham and Blackwood were hit by pitches, Simpson reached first on an error and Jones, batting a second time, doubled.

The Eagles added two more runs in the fifth inning when Myers singled, stole second and third and came home when Minze beat a throw to first. Minze stole second and scored on a single by Simpson.

Mexia came back to score four in the bottom in the fifth and the Eagles added one when Myers singled,

stole second and scored on a single by Gunnels.

But, the Blackcats scored five more runs in the bottom of the sixth for the winning tally.

Fairfield tied to get the win in the seventh inning when Mooneyham reached base after being hit by a pitch, but pinch runner Jeff Wood was picked off at first. Simpson followed with a single, Blackwood was hit by a pitch and Simpson was called out attempting to steal third, and a called third strike made it a double play.

On Friday, Terry pitched a 1-hitter in a 17-2 win against the Madisonville Mustangs.

The Eagles opened the contest when Myers drew a first inning walk, stole second, advanced to third on a bunt by Jones and scored on a double by Simpson.

A dozen Fairfield batters stepped to the plate in the second inning and scored eight runs to give the team a 9-0 lead.

Terry walked, Wickens singled and Ryan Hall loaded the bases when he reached first on an error. Terry scored when Gunnels was hit by a pitch, and Wickens, Hall and Gunnels scored when Myers, Jones and Simpson drew walks. Blackwood then drove in two with a double, Terry drove in a run on a ground ball out and Wickens doubled.

Madisonville plated a run in the bottom of the second inning and Fairfield answered by sending 13 batters to the box and scoring eight runs to open a 17- 1 lead.

Gunnels opened the onslaught with a walk, Minze reached on an error and Jones singled in Gunnels. With two outs, Blackwood and Terry walked, scoring Minze, Wickens was hit by a pitch to score Jones, Hall walked, Gunnels was hit by a pitch, each driving in runs, and Myers rapped an RBI single.

The Mustangs scored again in the fifth inning and the game was ended at five innings because of the 10-run rule.

The Eagles were scheduled to open district early this week against Palestine, host Brownsboro at 6 p.m. Friday and play Tuesday at Athens.