Mexico was in situations to win on Thursday against Hallsville but just couldn’t get it done.

Mexico vs Hallsville Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs were tied with Class 4 No. 10 Hallsville in the seventh inning in the first game of the Fulton Invitational Tournament but then lost 4-3 on a walk-off single by Cooper Rhoades. Mexico hosted Pool 1 games in the tournament, which involved Moberly, Fulton and Hallsville, but played as the away team against the Indians.

Head coach Daniel McCarty said, after a single to lead off the seventh inning and a balk to put the Hallsville runner into scoring position, Mexico (8-14) played percentages by intentionally walking Colton Nichols and Aaron Orscheln to force Rhoades to beat the Bulldogs. Mexico had played one game against Hallsville (16-4) earlier this year, losing 7-4.

“The 2 hitter (Nichols), he’s like 3-for-7 against us, and the 3 hitter is 4-for-7 against us so we decided to put them on in the last inning to get a forceout anywhere,” McCarty said. “The guy that hit the ball on the game-winning hit, he was like 0-for-8 against us in two games. We used that approach, and the outcome didn’t come our way.”

Andrew Orscheln serves as the Indians’ ace and looked like one against Mexico as he finished with 12 strikeouts in seven innings. Still, the Bulldogs picked up five hits and drew two walks to scratch across three runs (one earned) against the talented left-hander.

McCarty said Mexico’s hitters did seem to be uncertain on a few pitches Orscheln threw but believes that proves the Bulldogs were in position to hit and were possibly close to knocking him out of the game at 106 pitches.

“That shows me that our guys have seen the ball well,” McCarty said. “Of course, we’re not totally there yet on hitting line drives everywhere, but it was good to hit that type of pitcher to prepare us for the districts. Our approach was to see it deep, use the whole field and our kids did that tonight.”

Mexico was the team to strike first as Orscheln appeared to have strike three on a dropped third strike, but Drew DeMint came hard down the third-base line to get into a rundown until Hallsville’s defense broke down. The throw sailed into left field to allow DeMint to slide into home and a loose ball brought Andrew Runge around to give Mexico a 2-0 lead.

DeMint displayed some wise baserunning on Runge’s single as he made the read to go from first to third base to set up the impending trouble for the Indians. 

“That was a hit-and-run in place (on the dropped third strike),” McCarty said. “With it being two outs, we assumed he’d throw down to first so it was a mental mistake by their catcher and we just took advantage of it. On (DeMint’s) baserunning, it definitely helped us tonight by taking that aggressive step. It was good to see that.”

The Bulldogs just didn’t get the call as Thoenen tried to snag third base during the chaos after being the strikeout victim but was called out. Other than that play and an error in the outfield that allowed two Hallsville runners to score and take a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning, McCarty said Mexico performed well in run-scoring situations.

Even the players with not much experience did well as Mexico had Landon Hilderman make his first varsity start and his first varsity pitching appearance on a night the Bulldogs held back their more experienced pitchers. Hilderman covered the first two innings before underclassmen and regular junior varsity arms Tyson Carr and Brady Fox combined to allow eight Hallsville hits, five walks and two earned runs.

“Our plan was to use our young arms because Hallsville is more of a fastball-high-velo-caliber team,” McCarty said. “We wanted to get as many arms in and not show them our studs. We executed certain spots, we kept the ball down in certain situations and all-around we had good defense minus that error.

“We came out loose and we came out prepared to win. We competed all seven innings. Our guys produced with runners on tonight.”

Mexico learned it's the No. 5 seed in the Class 4 District 7 Tournament to be hosted by Macon and will play No. 4 Moberly (12-10) at 10 a.m. May 13.

Bulldogs drop nine consecutive with Fulton tournament losses

Mexico is hoping its issues at the end of the regular season don’t carry over.

With districts starting at the end of the week, the Bulldogs’ losing streak extended to nine games after losing four last weekend in the Fulton Invitational Tournament. After losing 4-3 via walkoff on Thursday to Class 4 No. 10 Hallsville (17-6), Mexico (8-17) was held to nine combined hits on Friday in a 4-1 loss to eventual champion and North Central Missouri Conference rival Fulton (13-7) and 7-3 defeat to another conference rival Moberly (13-12). The Bulldogs wrapped up the weekend with a 4-3 10-inning loss to North Callaway (13-7) in the seventh-place game.

Fulton’s Ethan Burt scattered his five hits in five innings against Mexico while striking out six. Tyler Thoenen was the only Bulldog with multiple hits as Sam Ryan had two walks. Andrew Runge pitched 4⅓ innings for Mexico with four runs on three hits and four walks.

Mexico vs Fulton Photo Gallery

Moberly added three insurance runs in the seventh inning after Mexico pulled within one run after Austin Maxwell’s two-RBI double. Drew DeMint finished 2-for-2 with an RBI and a walk, and Ty Sims struck out nine in five innings pitched along with three runs on four hits and three walks.

Keaton Bell lasted nine innings for North Callaway on Saturday morning going into afternoon, allowing six hits and four walks and striking out nine, and then Braydn O’Neal scored the winning run on a wild pitch to walk off for the Thunderbirds, who were the home team on the scoreboard at Mexico’s field. Mexico tied the score at 3 in the sixth inning on Landon Hilderman’s RBI single and an error on Jack Wilburn’s bunt. Hilderman also had a double for a multi-hit game, Thoenen had a triple, Gage Walker went 2-for-4, and Ryan pitched six shutout relief innings with six hits, five strikeouts and three walks.