But unfortunately for the Bobcats, they didn’t play like a team that accomplished all that in their regional matchup against fourth-seeded Lena on Tuesday at Red Johnson Field. Florence committed three errors, made a few other defensive miscues and walked seven Wildcats batters in its disappointing 11-4 loss.

“I know they’re only the 4 seed, but we know they have good players,” Johnson said of Lena afterward.

“Defensively, they played a pretty clean game, and there were stretches in the game where we struggled to make the plays that we normally do,” he added. “And against a good team, (this is) what happens.”

Florence actually started well, scoring the game’s first run in the opening inning. William Kelly was hit by a pitch to lead off the game before Evan Johnson smacked the first of his three doubles. Trent McLain drew a walk and Logan Schuls followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Kelly to put the home team up 1-0 heading into the top of the second.

Florence varsity slugger Evan Johnson (1) looks for the ball after smacking what would be a double against Lena in the WIAA Division 4 regionals on the Bobcats’ home field on Tuesday. The visiting Wildcats rallied to beat the No. 1-seeded Bobcats 11-4. (Dennis Mansfield/Daily News photo)

But after the Bobcats got two quick outs, the Wildcats changed the game. Lena scored two runs on a bases-loaded error to take the lead. Then shortstop Logan Shallow drilled a two-run double to center to put Lena up 4-1. Josh Kristof followed with an RBI single to put the Bobcats in a four-run hole.

“The wind was kind of out of our sails when they went up 5-1,” Coach Johnson said. “I said (to the players), ‘It’s a long game, we play seven innings and there’s still five innings to go. We’ve got a lot of baseball to play.’

“But we scored our runs one a time. We never had that big inning, which is what we needed to turn the tide and momentum of the game.”

Lena extended its lead to 8-1 in the top of the third on error and a two-run single by Shallow. In all, the Lena shortstop/pitcher went 2 for 3 with four runs driven in.

Florence inched a bit closer with a run in the third when Johnson hit a windblown double to left, stole third and scored on an overthrow by the catcher.

But there was always the sense that this wasn’t the Bobcats’ day. Lena added a single run in the fifth and two more in the sixth.

On the other hand, Florence scored one in the fifth on an RBI single by McLean to drive in Johnson, who had doubled. And the Bobcats added another single tally in the sixth on a Lena error that scored Cole Sweig, but it was too little too late for Florence.

“We knew what they had coming in,” Coach Johnson said. “They had some veteran players, especially in the pitching position. The two guys that threw tonight (Shallow and Lane Whiting) were really good players. And we knew we were going to have to play well and not let them score a ton of runs.”

Whiting threw six innings and picked up the win for Lena. McLean started for Florence and absorbed the loss. Sweig, a senior. pitched five innings of solid relief for Florence in his final game as a Bobcat.

“I did remind them that for these players to be 8-2 in the conference and end up on top of the conference when we were picked to finish fourth or fifth at the beginning of the year is a testament to their work ethic,” Johnson said. “I thanked them for what they’ve put into the team, and I told them I was proud of them for that.”

Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 247, or at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com.