ELY — The Falls VFW baseball team pulled out a one-run win Saturday over Ely — following three losses — at the Ely Invitational tournament held at Veterans Memorial Park.

With Eveleth and Proctor pulling out of the tourney, the Falls had two games apiece against Ely and Virginia. In the opening game Friday night, Virginia used a six-run third inning to take a 7-0 lead. The Falls scored its only two runs in the third inning on consecutive hits by Jon Little, Alex Bruess, Ames Bryant and Dominic Casareto. Virginia added four runs in the fourth inning and one in the fifth to win the game by the 10-run rule. Casareto replaced starting pitcher Bryant in the third inning.

Mike Misner started Game 2 for the Falls and singled in a run during a two-run first inning. Working ahead in the count consistently, Misner maintained the shutout for the first four innings.

In the fifth, the Falls exploded for nine runs, sending 14 batters to the plate. Doubles by Bryant and John Bartkowski highlighted the inning. A perfectly executed squeeze by Jordan Walls brought in another run.

The game took a dramatic shift in the bottom of the fifth when Ely scored four runs. Misner was replaced by Little during the inning.

“Misner pitched a great game,” said Falls coach Eric Walls. “We made some mistakes in the fifth inning in the field and gave them life.”

With Ely also changing pitchers, they were able to shut down the Falls the next two innings. In the meantime, Ely added two runs in the sixth inning and pulled the game out with a six-run seventh inning. Ely third baseman Matt Bernsdorf knocked in the winning run through a drawn in infield to complete the comeback.

The Falls faced Virginia on Saturday, and the two teams were tied 3-3 after three innings following a solid pitching performance from Andy Jesperson and timely hitting. The Falls took a brief lead in the fifth and added three runs in the sixth, but a six-run sixth inning by Virginia erased the lead in a 9-7 loss for the Falls.

“We hit the ball better and Andy pitched well,” said Walls. Jesperson and Walls finished with two hits apiece.

Christian Kittleson got the start in the final game. A two-run triple by Bryant in the sixth inning put the Falls up 4-3. Ely loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. With a 3-2 count Kittleson struck out the final batter looking to pick up the win.

“Christian pitched stellar,” said Walls. “Right now we need to become a better hitting team, especially in situations when we need to move runners over and do the little things.

The Falls is now 3-8 overall and will make its home debut Tuesday at noon at Scheela Field against top-ranked Grand Rapids.