CORBIN — The Pineville Mountain Lions saw their season come to an end Monday with a 7-2 loss to Barbourville in the first round of the 51st District tournament at Lynn Camp.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Ben Stuber doubled with two outs, Dalton Mills reached on an error and seventh grader Tanner Moore delivered an RBI single.

Pineville answered with two runs in the top of the third to take the lead. Shawn Madon doubled with one out and Bill Rye reached on an error. Jarrod Nunnelley’s hit brought Madon home to tie the game and Rye was able score as part of a double steal to put the Lions on top 2-1.

Barbourville answered with a three-run third to go on top for good. Garrett Clark led off the inning by reaching on an error, Garrett Vaughn singled and one out later Tyler Tye beat out an infield hit to load the bases.

Jeffery Banfield followed with a grounder to short to drive in a run, he was safe and advanced to second as another run came in on an error. With two out, Dalton Mills and Moore drew walks to force in a run and stretch the Barbourville lead to 4-2.

Banfield drove in a run in the fourth and Clark and Vaughn were able to score on an error in the sixth to set the final at 7-2.

Banfield worked all seven inning to pick up the win. The freshman left-hander allowed just the two runs, one earned, on three hits while striking out six without walking a batter.

Junior Dalton Simpson pitched all six innings for the Lions. He scattered eight hits and only two of the runs he allowed were earned. He walked two, struck out four and hit a batter.

“Dalton pitched a pretty good game — I think he only walked two, we played good defense for the most part but just couldn’t the offense going,” said Lion coach Scott Jeffrey. “We were hitting everything in the air. We didn’t get the ball on the ground to make them make plays and because of that we weren’t able to string any hits together.”

Junior first baseman singled in the sixth for Pineville’s only other hit.

Barbourville (8-12) earns a spot in next week’s 13th Region tournament with the win and will play Knox Central today at 5:30 p.m. in the district championship game.

Pineville finishes the season with a record of 5-10.

“The kids played hard and they have all season long. We’ve come a long way from the start of the year when were losing games 12 or 13 to nothing,” Jeffrey said. “Pineville hasn’t sniffed the region since 1999 and we’ve had some years we’ve went oh-fer since then. But this is the second straight year we’ve won five games, the only starter we’re losing is (senior) Billy Rye behind the plate, and I think we’re on the right track.”

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Pineville 002 000 0 — 2 3 5

Barbourville 013 102 x — 7 8 3

Simpson and Rye; Banfield and Tye. W—Banfield. L—Simpson.