The playoffs are not supposed to be easy, or else everyone would win every game all the time.

That is a lesson the Woodland High School varsity baseball team found out Monday evening, dropping game one of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division V semifinals to Lincoln by the score of 7-5.

The Wolves (23-9, 15-6) went into Monday’s road semifinal against the No. 1-seeded Lincoln High School on a wave of momentum following a huge 15-5 win over No. 5 seed Linden last Thursday in the D5 quarterfinals. The No. 4-seeded Wolves beat No. 13 Marysville 4-0 in the opening round on Tuesday.

Lincoln came into the game (22-8, 8-4 Pioneer Valley League) having defeated No. 16 seed Mesa Verde 25-7 in the first round, followed by a calmer 5-2 win over No. 8 seed Liberty Ranch in the quarterfinal.

During the regular season, the Fighting Zebras finished second in the PVL behind Oakmont, who defeated Pioneer last week by the score of 3-2 in the D3 quarterfinals, and three spots ahead of Colfax, who are locked into a three-game semifinal with Woodland Christian in the D6 bracket.

After Woodland took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Lincoln responded like a true No. 1 seed and scored a run in the second and third innings, 2 runs in the third inning, and then 3 runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-1 lead.

With their backs against the wall, the Wolves responded with 3 runs in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-4 and a final run in the top of the seventh to finish the game 7-5.

Junior Dylan Ramirez led the way for the Wolves at the plate with 2 RBI and a run scored. The freshman trio of Riley Salvemini, Cohen Dwyer, and Carlos Vazquez all had a game-high 2 hits each.

On the mound, David Tanner pitched 4.1 innings, allowing 4 runs and striking out 4, while Aiden Lopez came in for the final 1.2 innings, striking out a batter and allowing 1 hit.

Game two is set for this Wednesday, at Woodland’s Clark Field, with the first pitch set for 4 p.m.