Having pitched only twice this season, doing so in a season-saving situation was the farthest thing from Westside second baseman Michael Falcone’s mind Friday, even as host Baytown Sterling got the winning run on base in the seventh inning.

But after Cory Maltz hit the leadoff batter and walked the second with the Wolves leading 6-5, to the surprise of many coach Emrick Jagneaux turned to his seldom-used senior – seldom only in the pitching sense – and asked him to bail out his team.

“I had no clue,” Falcone said. “I seriously had no clue I was going to come in and pitch the final three outs.”

Falcone, who had pitched three innings prior to Friday, struck out the first hitter on a foul bunt, induced a long flyout to right and struck out Jonathan Fuller looking in front of a standing-room-only crowd to seal Westside’s 6-5 victory in Game 2 of its regional semifinal series.

The Wolves (29-3), who hadn’t advanced farther than the third round prior to this season, will play Bellaire or Alvin in the regional finals next weekend.

“Mike’s pitched a lot for us – not a lot in ball games – but he was the guy I was going to go to,” Jagneaux said. “I wanted Maltz to close it out … I had to have somebody for tomorrow (in case there was a Game 3). I looked at Mike, he knew what was going on and he was ready to go.”

It was the final, decisive twist in a seventh inning, let alone the game, that featured the unlikeliest of game-winners.

After Sterling (29-6) clawed back from a 5-1 deficit with two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth, Maltz was hit in the back by Sterling’s Brett Marshall with one out and the bases loaded to score Matt Clayton and break a 5-all tie.

“I was just trying to capitalize on what (Marshall) was doing,” Maltz said. “I was hoping he’d come inside and he did.”

The seventh inning was the second time Westside made an often-wild Marshall pay.

With Westside leading 2-0 in the fifth, Marshall’s first nine pitches of the inning were balls. The Wolves cashed in when starting pitcher Michael Goodnight laced a two-run single to center – his second RBI single of the game – and Brett Zieren smashed a RBI triple past diving centerfielder Hunter Cervenka.

Cervenka made up for that in the bottom of the inning, cranking a two-run homer to straightaway center to make it 5-3. That was his 14th home run of the year, tying a school record.

Sterling tied it off Goodnight and reliever Daniel Mengden in the sixth, when Fuller lined an RBI triple into the right-field corner and Cervenka scored on a sacrifice.

But Marshall opened the door in the seventh. Clayton led off with a walk and got to third on a passed ball and an error.

Marshall struck out 11.

“That’s baseball. It’s never over ‘til it’s over,” Jagneaux said. “We got the break with (Maltz) getting hit at the plate to drive the run in. They were gonna fight us. We knew that. My hat’s off to Sterling. They have a great ball club also.”

Alvin leads the other semifinal series 1-0; those two teams will play at least one game, two if necessary, Saturday afternoon at Manvel.

For at least a few minutes Friday night, that was the farthest thing from the Wolves’ minds. It may not be for long.

“We never give up. It’s a tribute to this team and how well we’ve jelled together,” Maltz said. “It’s unbelievable. We’re just doing the best we can.”

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