It felt like Mexico was in this situation before.

Mexico vs Eldon Photo Gallery

For the second straight year, the Bulldogs played Eldon in Mexico with cold and rainy conditions and added to the deja vu by winning by one run 6-5 in eight innings. Mexico fell behind 5-0 after two and a half innings only for the team to chip away until Sam Ryan’s ground ball to the shortstop turned into the walk-off victory.

“First three swings, I was being kind of selfish by trying to swing for the fences,” Ryan said. “The last swing, I just tried to put wood on it and put it in play. (Austin Maxwell) is fast so he would score no matter what.”

Head coach Daniel McCarty said he already felt confident once Mexico loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth inning, thanks to a leadoff hit by Maxwell (2-for-4 with two runs scored) and a couple of walks drawn by Jaydon Eldridge (two walks) and Brady Fox (two runs scored). He knew the game was over as soon as Ryan was in the box.

“Sam was coming up and he’s a hell of a bunter so I was like, ‘Should I squeeze here or just try to let him hit?’” McCarty said. “After the first strike, I was like, ‘He’s dialed in.’ He had two strikes, battled 0-2 down to 2-2 and then hit a line drive to the shortstop and we scored. Great approach.”

Eldon pitchers walked 11 batters, and Mexico only struck once during the game. Before Ryan’s at bat, the Bulldogs had made a habit out of putting the ball in play to plate runs.

In the third inning, Fox and Cooper Bledsoe each hit ground balls to bring home runs for a two-run frame. Bledsoe picked up his second RBI with a groundout in the fifth inning, and then Tyson Carr (2-for-4) hitting a sacrifice fly and Chance McCarty reaching on an infield error plated two Bulldog runs in the seventh inning.

“We came out and put pressure on their defense,” McCarty said. “Overall, it was a great approach. Our guys came back and battled with perseverance. We could’ve just rolled over at the end in the seventh inning, but we didn’t.”

Ryan said the incessant balls in play off Mexico bats wasn’t a fluke against an erratic opposing pitching staff in colder conditions. The Bulldogs approached this season with the intent on keeping fielders on their toes.

“During practice, we had a goal of no more than three strikeouts in a game,” Ryan said. “If we did, we’d have to run. All we had to do was put wood on it, put in play and hopefully win.”

McCarty said this much contact gives a team more than enough hope of a victory. There was still plenty of hope in Mexico’s dugout on Friday even after he said Eldon seemed to want revenge for last season’s loss. 

The Mustangs took advantage of some shaky Mexico defense to score once in the second inning and four times in the third. Mexico’s three pitchers combined for eight walks but only allowed two earned runs to Eldon. Landon Hildermann allowed both earned runs on two hits in five innings while Zachary Jahn and Cooper Rowe didn’t allow a hit or a run in the final three innings.

“Going in, it wasn’t raining, and then after the first pitch, it started raining,” McCarty said. “We talked in the third or fourth inning, ‘We need to adjust here. Charge at the ball, just feel it, find the laces and throw.’ We started to do that toward the end.”

Mexico always had a good grip on its bats, avoiding any chance of letting go of the game. McCarty has instilled into his pitchers and fielders the importance of limiting “freebies” — walks, errors and hit batsmen — in the past so he said opposing defenses shouldn’t get off easy either.

“In high school baseball, if a team can have less than three strikeouts a game, the hitting odds go way up,” McCarty said. “If a team puts a ball in play, seven times out of 10 they will get on base.”

Mexico plays two games today at Southern Boone in Ashland, facing Hermann (1-2) at 1:30 p.m. and Southern Boone at 4 p.m.