William Dobyns fanned the last four batters he faced.

“I wish I could have started out how I finished,” said the Bulldogs junior hurler.

Likely it wouldn’t have mattered. Dobyns inherited a 2-0 deficit when he entered the contest at the start of the third. At the end of seven innings – the cut off point in a triangular event – the game was 6-0 in Marshfield’s favor and Mexico had managed only one hit against Blue Jays pitching.

The loss wrapped a long-awaited opening day weekend that saw the Bulldogs pummel Paris 20-5 on Friday night before dropping two on Saturday.

In the morning, walks, hit by pitches and other mistakes proved costly as Mexico came up short against Excelsior Springs, 10-7 in the three-sided contest hosted by the Bulldogs.

The nightcap on Saturday pitted Mexico against Marshfield’s Jackson Vestal, a righthander armed with an arsenal of velocity, off speed stuff, different deliveries – including a shortened version of the legendary Satchel Paige’s hesitation pitch – and more.

“He had a tight curve,” said Ty Prince.

Prince recorded Mexico’s only real damage against Vestal, a two-out triple to the right center gap in the first inning. Otherwise the Bulldogs found it difficult to piece together a threatening rally.

Matt McCurdy reached first on a walk with two down in the second. Daeye Miller’s inspired baserunning took him from first to third on a Landon Kleinsorge sacrifice bunt in the third, but to no avail.

Mexico’s run came in the fourth. Andrew Runge reached base on an error and then beat a fielder’s choice throw to second on Josh Forbis’ grounder to second. He scored on another grounder by Ty Sims.

But Vestal was still throwing in the upper mid-80s in the sixth. And Marshfield reliever Wyatt Brockman proved just as effective in the seventh and final inning, shutting Mexico down one-two-three.

“They’re a good, sound team,” Dobyns observed. “They just found the gaps.”

The Blue Jays put men on second and third in the first, but Prince – Mexico’s starter – struck out Jackson Rovig and coached Logan Crum into a groundout, Forbis to Tyler Thoenen.

They plated two in the second and one in the third, Hayden Curley scoring on a wild pitch. Marshfield took advantage of an error for another run in the fifth. In between was their only true rally, a clutch two-run single by Curley with two down in the fourth.

“It was a well played game, we just came up short,” said coach Daniel McCarty.

Bulldogs pound Paris, fall to Tigers

In the morning’s 10-7 loss to Excelsior Springs, Daeye Miller and Jesse Fennewald each had three hits and two RBIs, but Mexico gave up six unearned runs.

On Friday night at home against Paris the Bulldogs survived a shaky start and then took out a season’s worth of punishment on the visitors. Daeye Miller had three hits, Ty Prince and Landon Kleinsorge two each.

Kleinsorge drove in four runs, while Ty Sims and Josh Forbis pushed across three apiece.

The Bulldogs are off to a 1-2 start after the long awaited opening weekend.

“We still have a lot of season left,” Prince said