At the same time, you had to literally love the way the Tribe (31-21) went down fighting. Smallish outfielder Dennis Love, getting a chance because of an injury to O.J. Lennon, rocked four homers in his team’s final hours — two in a 14-11 a.m. survival win over Mars Hill at North Rowan High and two more in a 16-12 p.m. elimination loss to Cinderella Tusculum at Newman Park.

“I got lucky,” said Love, a lefty-hitting junior who kept Tribe fans from feeling too bummed about the sudden end to a season that began with high hopes and national ranking. “Maybe in junior high or Little League I did something like that.”

“What’s funny,” said slugging catcher Adam Patterson, who pumped out a three-run homer of his own, “is that Love is the guy that usually gets picked on about not having any power. I can’t remember him hitting one out in BP, even. But he works hard. If anyone works harder than me, it’s Dennis. You put in the time and the effort and it can happen for you.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen in this tournament for Catawba’s battered and bruised pitching staff. The third-seeded Tribe played three straight games with football-like scores, dropping two out of three despite putting up 35 runs.

“We scored enough runs in our last two games to win six or seven ballgames,” sighed Tribe coach Jim Gantt.

“Our pitchers gave up a lot of runs, but they fought to the end,” shrugged Love. “A lot of those guys are hurting, but they hung in there and did their best.”

Chad Secrest, trying to come back from major surgery less than a year ago, gave the Tribe three no-hit innings to start the nightcap, but got hurt by a couple of misplays that led to four Pioneer runs in the fourth. Then Tusculum hit the Tribe with three field goals — make that nine runs — in the fifth.

But Secrest battled until Gantt finally had to pull him.

So did Robbie Green, who hurt his arm at midseason and could no longer throw his breaking ball, but still won 11 games — a school record. His 11th win came in yesterday’s first game in which he worked around six Tribe errors. Somehow, as a miffed Gantt pointed out, Green was omitted from the first and second SAC all-conference teams.

Green is one of the team’s three seniors. He’ll be missed. Gantt will miss his other two seniors even more, because they’re local products who have been with him for many summers.

Gantt’s worked with West Rowan’s Patterson (except for the catcher’s first two collegiate years at Pfeiffer) since he was 16. And Gantt had record-setting shortstop David Trexler (East Rowan) almost continuously since Trexler was 15 and a fresh-faced rookie on the Rowan American Legion team. Trexler did put in one year away from Newman Park at N.C. State.

“You don’t replace a David Trexler,” said Gantt. “You send someone out there in his spot next year, but you never can really replace him.”

Last year everything went right for Trexler. This year, he struggled — not so much with pitchers but with staying healthy. He finished his 10-homer season reduced to a pinch-hitting role — hobbled by a groin injury that he kept aggravating. He went to the plate in the eighth inning of the second game, drew a walk and limped to first base, looking like Mickey Mantle, circa 1968.

That’s when friends and foes alike let out a rousing cheer. No one had forgotten the player that Trexler had been when he was right, and they saluted him.

Gantt will miss Patterson’s strong bat and his leadership skills.

“Adam and I have always had great communication,” said Gantt.

Gantt feels that Patterson has the ability to continue playing beyond Catawba, because lefty-swinging catchers are a prized commodity, especially when they’re as tough as Patterson. And Patterson says he’s definitely not ready to hang up his spikes.

“They’ll have to kick me out,” he said. “They’ll have to tell me I can’t play anymore. I’m done as far as college, but I’m not done.”

None of the Tribe players wanted this season to be done last night. Down by scores like 13-3 and 16-7, they just kept whacking out base hits.

But in the end, two homers by Tusculum terror Ryan Baker and a homer and a three-run double by Pat Compton (after the Tribe had intentionally walked Baker) were too much for Catawba to overcome.