ELM GROVE — All good things have to come to an end. Billy Timko knows that.

“We weren’t going to go undefeated,” veteran Barton manager Billy Timko said after his squad dropped a 4-3 decision to homestanding Wheeling in Ohio Valley Baseball League action on Cpt. David VanCamp Memorial Ball Field. “It’s a long season and there’s a lot of baseball to be played yet.”

The setback, which came in a rematch of last year’s championship finals in which Barton prevailed, was the first for the Braves against five victories and denied Timko his 300th career triumph.

“That’s a good ballclub,” Timko said of the veteran Cardinals. “A very good ballclub.”

Barton took a 2-0 lead in the third when Anthony Zorne lined a 1-1 pitch over the fence in right for a home run. It came after Ross Salvatori reached on a two-out error.

The Cardinals cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning off Barton starter Matt Gruber. John Santimarino drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a groundout. Following a popup for the second out, Matt Carnahan was hit with a pitch before Brian Campbell sent a soft single to center that scored Santimarino.

Wheeling drew even in the fourth as Mitchell French’s grounder down the first base line with one out hit the bag and caromed into foul territory for an infield single. A groundout advanced him 90-feet to second and he raced home on Santimarino’s seeing-eye single up the middle. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases, but Gruber was able to induce a harmless flyball to center to escape further damage.

The Braves re-took the lead in the fifth, but the inning could have been much bigger had it not been for a key double-play.

Designated hitter Nick Bilyeu reached on an infield single leading off against Wheeling starter Austin Crebs. After failing to get a sacrifice bunt down twice, No. 9 hitter Matt Fouty bounced a bad-hop single over the third baseman’s head. Dimitri Collaros’ one-hopper back to the mound turned into a 1-6-3 twin killing as Bilyeu went to third.

Just as the momentum switched dugouts, the Braves got it back as Salvatori singled to center as Bilyeu scored for a 3-2 edge.

However, the Cardinals tallied single runs in the fifth and sixth to secure the win.

French doubled in Ricky Szeligo to tie things with a two-out drive to the rightfield corner in the fifth. An inning later, Todd Schmidt raced home on the back-end of a double steal. With two outs and Carnahan on first, he intentionally got trapped between first and second. While Ryan Bernard, who came in in relief of Gruber to start the inning, paid a little too much attention to Carnahan as Schmidt streaked home.

“Hey, it was a one-run game. You can’t get much better baseball than that,” Timko noted. “Both teams battled. You can’t ask for much more.”

Crebs, who pitches for NCAA Division I Fairleigh Dickinson, fanned eight and walked two in six innings. He gave up four hits. Side-winder Jordan Daugherty pitched the seventh to earn the save. Gruber struck out two, walked four and hit a pair. Bernard took the loss.