Mexico hopes the results of one tournament will match another. 

The Bulldogs earned their second straight trip to the Southern Boone Classic championship game after defeating Wright City 11-3 on Friday in pool play in Mexico. Not long before, Mexico (19-10) was revealed to have the No. 1 seed in the Class 4 District 7 tournament to be hosted by Mexico starting this weekend.

Wright City (13-14) ran out four pitchers who combined for 12 walks, three hit by pitches and three wild pitches. The result was six runs scored with the bases loaded, and a key victory for Mexico before districts.

Mexico vs Wright City Photo Gallery

“It was good to see them tonight with their hitters and everything like that,” head coach Daniel McCarty said. “I watched them (Thursday) against Fatima, but it was definitely more of our caliber of velocity. If we match up with them in the championship round, we’ll be ready just like we were today.”

Kaden Benne went 3-for-4 with a RBI double, Zach Jahn finished 3-for-3 with three runs, Pearson Kleinsorge had two RBIs, and Drew DeMint walked four times and scored twice. Jahn also had two RBIs in a 16-4 win against Fatima (13-11) in the morning and was 2-for-3 with four RBIs in a 12-6 win over Eldon (13-12) during the previous day.

Benne had two doubles against Wright City, was 2-for-4 with four RBIs against Fatima and was 2-for-4 against Eldon. McCarty said that has been a trend recently for the senior as he has adjusted by “staying back more.” He said it is a good sign if Mexico can get that production throughout its lineup.

“The last three weeks, he struggled a little bit,” McCarty said. “In the last five games, he’s really turned it around. He’s using the whole field and is showing some more pop.”

McCarty said Mexico didn’t do too much against Wright City and were able to score runs however it could. He said the Bulldogs have been trying to improve with runners on base, and Friday was better in that regard.

“Early on in this game, we weren’t being patient and swinging at bad pitches and getting some groundouts,” McCarty said. “The second inning on, we were more patient as far as hitting our pitches and doing something with it.”

Kinser Groves pitched 6⅔ innings with five hits, three runs, three strikeouts and three walks against Wright City. The senior couldn’t quite go the distance but scattered hits after allowing a home run early in the game.

“He persevered through the weather and everything being wet,” McCarty said. “He had his mind right. Towards the end for him, we just ran out of pitches for him because we used him in the game before to close the game for us.”

Mexico plays the winner of Winfield and Lutheran St. Charles at 4 p.m. Monday in the district semifinals.

Bulldogs lose championship 7-4 to Southern Boone

Mexico had the home field in Southern Boone’s tournament on Saturday.

The Bulldogs lost 7-4 to Class 4 No. 6 Southern Boone (21-8) in a rematch from a 6-5 Mexico win in late March. Mexico wasn’t able to repeat as Southern Boone Classic champions after being outhit 9-6.

Mexico took a 3-0 lead after the first inning after a two-RBI double by Zach Jahn, who had eight RBIs in four tournament games. Southern Boone answered with four runs in the third inning and three runs in the fourth inning. Pearson Kleinsorge had a RBI single for Mexico in the fifth inning.

Drew DeMint finished 2-for-4, and Brady Fox scored two runs and had one RBI. 

Mexico makes up a game against North Central Missouri Conference rival and Class 4 No. 4 Moberly (21-8) at 3 p.m. Thursday.