After fighting all the way back from the loser’s bracket, the Saints baseball team earned a berth in the NWAC Championship series, where Mt. Hood came up just short of the ultimate prize on Monday.

Instead, the Saints (20-4 in the South Region, 35-14 overall) finished in second place after losing, 6-1, in the second of two games against Lower Columbia College (24-1 in the West Region, 41-10 overall) in Longview, Wash. The Red Devils have now captured 11 championships and their first since 2010.

The Saints had battled all the way back after losing a one-run game in Round Two action against Tacoma, three days earlier.

Sophomore ace Joe Balfour (10-1, 1.19 ERA) pitched a gem in Game 1 against Lower Columbia earlier Monday to help the Saints stay alive and force a winner-take-all rematch.

Balfour pitched all 11 innings in the Saints’ 2-1 victory. He scattered six hits and only gave up one unearned runs, struck out three, threw a season-high 116 pitches. He said head coach Bryan Donohue wanted him to go deep into the game. He did just that.

“That was one of the best pitching performances of my career,” said a modest Balfour. “My arm felt good and things kept rolling and rolling. We were just taking it inning by inning and I told coach I was fine.”

The Red Devils countered with their ace, Kade Kryzsko (8-0, 0.84 ERA on the year), who pitched seven scoreless innings before handing the ball over to closer Christian Parsons (3-2, 0.91 ERA and five saves), who was tagged with the loss in 3.2 innings of action.

“(Balfour) did a great job,” said Lower Columbia head coach Eddie Smith. “He was ahead of our batters all day and got into some great counts and was able to throw three pitches for strikes.”

Trailing 1-0, Mt. Hood right fielder Nick Gawley started the Saints’ mini-rally in the bottom of the eighth inning. He hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field, and drove in left fielder Evan Jones.

With the game still tied at 1-1 in the 11th inning, Saints first baseman Tommy Lane stepped up to the dish with two outs, with center fielder Isaac Benard standing on third base with the winning run. Lane waited on his pitch and drove a pitch to center, brining in Benard to end the game. Lane would finish the season with 49 RBIs, to go along with his NWAC-leading 11 home runs.

“The batter in front of me walked and their guys had a meeting at the mound,” said Lane. “I went down and talked with (coach) Donno and he told me to get my pitch and to relax. After the first strike I got a bit anxious so I stepped outside of the box and took a deep breath.”

In the finale, the Saints sent Seth Rayburn (5-4, 2.77 ERA) to counter Sacramento State-bound Tanner Olson (6-1, 2.77 ERA), going for the Red Devils. Olson kept the Saints in check from start to finish. He limited them to six hits and went the distance on the mound – pitching all nine innings.

After two scoreless innings, the Red Devils would piece together three runs in the top of the third inning. They added insurance runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings.

“We feel pretty fortunate to come out on top,” said Smith. “I told my players not to get down because of Game 1… We knew coming out of the winner’s bracket would benefit us. And once we got going in the third inning we never looked back.”

According to Balfour, no one on the Mt. Hood team hung their heads in the aftermath of coming up just short of a championship trophy. Instead they shared a special moment in the parking lot.

“It would have been a incredible task to beat Lower Columbia twice in one day,” he said, giving the hometown Devils full credit. “They were consistent all year long.”

“It was pretty emotional. Lots of people were crying,” Balfour said. “We’re one big family and we’re all so close.”

Lane, the Saints’ slugger, voiced a similar response.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s always disappointing,” Lane said, but there was much for the Saints to feel good about in 2015.

After each season, all players meet with teammates and coaches and have their farewell meeting.

“It’s called the circle of honor,” said Balfour. “We went around and said nice things about one another. It was really special and hard for us (departing sophomores).”