Even in defeat, Mexico hadn’t lost confidence in themselves.

Mexico vs Macon District Title Photo Gallery

The No. 5 seed Bulldogs led Thursday’s Class 4 District 7 tournament game starting in the fourth inning, when Austin Maxwell skipped an RBI single off the mound into center field, but allowed No. 2 Macon to string together three two-out hits in the sixth inning, including a two-RBI double by Logan Hillard, to hand Mexico a 2-1 loss. The Bulldogs’ 180 turnaround in districts ended as they had outscored Moberly and Hallsville 17-1 to resoundingly end a season-high 10-game losing streak.

Head coach Daniel McCarty made the pitching move from senior Landyn Kleinsorge to another senior Andrew Runge. Kleinsorge had shut out the Tigers (22-6) through five innings while allowing five hits and one walk, but McCarty noticed Macon’s contact getting louder and the heart of the order — who was 3-6 against Kleinsorge — was coming up a third time.

“Landyn Kleinsorge pitched one heck of a game. He just kept them off-balance,” McCarty said. “The third time through the lineup, we decided to bring our next best guy in Runge. I’d do it again. He’s been our guy to get outs, but they just brought the ball up with two-out hits.”

The Bulldogs (10-19) had played a clean game and ended up finishing with no errors, making it six straight games they had the advantage in the errors column and only two errors in three district games. It was also the first time since a comeback 4-3 loss at state-ranked Blair Oaks on April 27 that Mexico won the fielding battle as the team had no errors that game.

Right out of the gate, Mexico made clear that defense would be its strength as Macon had a runner on second trying to advance to third base on a flyball to right field. Drew DeMint camped under the ball and was on target to Sam Ryan at third base. Catch. Tag. Got him.

“Since the start of the districts, we’ve had solid defense, solid offense, solid baserunning and solid head focus so I can’t complain from there,” McCarty said. “(The DeMint play) set the tone and let them know you can’t run on us. It deescalated from stealing as much or running on our outfield arms.”

Macon’s errors opened the door for Mexico in the fourth inning as Sam Ryan hit a ground ball but hustled down the line while the first baseman dropped the throw, setting up a first-and-third situation for Maxwell. He put the second pitch in play for the first run of the game in an inning that McCarty said maybe could have been more along with the two runners stranded in the fifth inning.

“We had runners on first and second and one out (in the fifth inning),” McCarty said. “That right there was our key inning to make damage or make noise. We just have to execute better next time.”

If Mexico had a next time, McCarty said he thinks the result would be different as the Bulldogs didn’t play terribly but just couldn’t muster enough offense against Drew Meisner — seven innings with four hits, four strikeouts and one walk — and his deceptive offspeed pitching. 

“We were expecting some high-velo coming into today, and we just couldn’t make the right adjustments as far as timing and stuff like that,” McCarty said. 

For the 10 games right before districts, Mexico was at its lowest point as it was in the thick of the toughest part of its schedule, averaging 2.1 runs per game. McCarty said the team’s six seniors of Runge, Kleinsorge, Tyler Thoenen, Matt McCurdy, Ty Sims and Jack Wilburn were a big part in helping the team regroup. 

The Bulldogs’ district opener proved that worked as they littered their conference rival Moberly with a season-high 18 hits, including four doubles to win 11-6 in six innings. Mexico then defeated Hallsville after losing twice to the Indians this year as Runge and Thoenen each hit home runs in the victory.

“We got a chance to practice five days before districts started so we had to regroup, refocus and rethink things through,” McCarty said. “We had to keep our guys focused on the game of baseball so we simplified our approach, and our guys battled and battled. They wanted it more than I do, and it showed in district play. 

“We started out rough midseason, but (the seniors) regrouped and showed some great leadership throughout districts and throughout practice. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I would take all six of them again in a heartbeat.”