Mexico had its chances to win.

Mexico vs Moberly Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs lost their third straight conference game on Monday but gave district foe and Class 4 No. 1 Moberly a tightly contested game at home in a 2-1 loss. Austin Maxwell posted a standout performance through seven innings on the mound with four hits, two walks, one earned run and one strikeout on 92 pitches.

Maxwell only allowed a sacrifice fly and RBI single to No. 3 hitter Jackson Engel, but head coach Daniel McCarty said he gave Mexico (7-4, 0-3 NCMC) a “good and quality start” against the team’s toughest opponent so far. On top of that, McCarty said the Bulldogs were in the box against “the best pitcher we faced this year so far” in Cade Bohm, who finished with six hits, four strikeouts, three walks and one earned run in six innings.

“He threw strikes tonight,” McCarty said. “He commanded the zone well, and he got outs. He was using the inside and outside of the plate and was working the zone so he did tremendously well tonight.”

The problem was Bohm was doing the same. Bohm did feature a breaking ball to entice the Bulldogs to reach outside, but McCarty said the 84-85 mph velocity made his hitters behind early in the game as the Bulldogs “weren’t guessing” and “seeing and hitting the ball.”

Mexico had at least one runner in scoring position in three of the final four innings of the game. Bohm was forced out after Brady Fox led off the inning on base, but Moberly (9-2, 3-0 NCMC) caught a runner stealing home and Max Richardson closed the game with a strikeout. McCarty said it would have benefitted Mexico if it better grasped what Bohm was throwing earlier in the game so the pressure could have been applied sooner.

“We started putting some pressure on him and were hitting balls hard,” McCarty said. “We put pressure on him from the fifth inning on. Both pitchers used the whole plate tonight. With the wind blowing in 10 mph, everybody was trying to pitch inside.”

Mexico outhit Moberly 7-4 and scored its lone run in the sixth inning on a botched double play attempt by the Spartans. Landon Hilderman went 2-for-3 with a loud liner caught by the first baseman, Sam Ryan was 2-for-4 with a double and Chance McCarty finished 1-for-2 with one RBI and a hit by pitch. 

There were instances when Mexico failed to lay down bunts or execute bunt plays, like when a runner was thrown out at second base on a hit and run and when a bunt turned into a pop out with runners at the corners. The attempted steal of home in the seventh inning wasn’t by design, McCarty said, as he tried to avoid the double play with a steal of second base by Jaydon Eldridge. Two-hit batters Ryan and Hilderman were coming up with runners on base so McCarty said 

“We had a few baserunning miscues tonight that kind of cost us,” McCarty said. “We’re going to have practice tomorrow and learn and grow from it.”

Mexico will learn and grow from mistakes as the season goes on, but McCarty said the Bulldogs have been doing that even with three straight losses in the North Central Missouri Conference. The Bulldogs had one bad inning in a 8-1 loss to Kirksville before a tight 3-1 loss at Hannibal and then lost a one-run game to state-ranked Moberly. The next chance to go back in the win column is at 5 p.m. tonight at home against Lutheran St. Charles (1-8).

“We keep on moving forward,” McCarty said. “We lost but have learned and grown from these three losses to get better.”