The best part of Tuesday’s game for the Bryan baseball team came before the first pitch as nine seniors were honored on Viking Field.

Wins have been hard to come by for the group as evidenced by Tuesday’s 12-0 five-inning loss to Cypress Woods, which dropped the Vikings to 7-17-1 overall, including 3-12 in District 14-6A. The group has made the transition from coach David Powers, who retired after the 2017 season, to James Dillard.

“This senior class is very special,” Dillard said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to coach these guys for the last two years. I mean, Coach Powers had these guys for two years, then I had them for two years. They’re good baseball players, but they’re even better young men, and that’s the important thing.”

The seniors who were honored with their parents were Michael Barber, Tyler Cain, Troy Chumchal, Joseph Durate, Michael Hernandez, Matthew Moreno, David Parks, Tanner Teal and James Woodward.

“They were good baseball players, but they’re going to be remembered more for what they did off the field, what they did in the classrooms,” Dillard said. “The cool thing is all these guys are going to go on and do something special in life, and that’s what makes me feel real good about them.”

The group received a standing ovation, then the rest of the night belonged to the third-place Wildcats (22-7, 11-4), who have clinched a playoff spot.

Cy-Woods scored six runs in the first inning as Luke Nagy and Brett Velzis each had two-run hits. Half of the runners who scored reached via an error and two walks. The Wildcats also batted around in the fourth, scoring five runs. This time they did almost all the damage with their bats, getting six hits.

Bryan, which managed only one hit last week in two games against top-ranked Cypress Ranch, got a double from Logan Freeman in the first and an infield single by Noah Garcia in the fifth, both with two outs.

Cy-Woods’ starting pitcher Dylan Bourgeois struck out six in four innings, walking one. The senior left-hander threw only 50 pitches. Bryan, by contrast, used five pitchers and needed 44 pitches just to get out of the first inning.

Bryan had two runners get into scoring position, the last one in the fifth inning when it sent five batters to the plate against relief pitcher Will Meese, who walked a batter.

The teams will conclude the regular season at Cy-Woods on Friday night.