Mexico couldn’t find a groove at the plate on Friday at home like it did on the same field the previous night.

Mexico vs Lafayette Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs tallied 20 hits in an eight-inning, 18-16 loss to Centralia in a game that took three and half hours and then went right back to the field the next day at 1 p.m. to lose 6-2 to Lafayette (St. Joseph). Mexico finished with six hits, which was more than the five hits by Lafayette but the Fighting Irish drew eight walks against two Mexico pitchers.

Head coach Daniel McCarty said Mexico (11-9) has had fast starts in recent games, even when they didn’t result in wins. This game was different though as McCarty could notice on the field.

“We came out sluggish,” McCarty said. “They took advantage of our mistakes. We had two errors today. We just weren’t focused on the plate and in the field.”

Mexico did have runners on in every inning except for the fourth inning, McCarty said, but the Bulldogs couldn’t find enough hits to catch up with Lafayette (5-11), who won its five straight game after starting the season 0-11. 

The Bulldogs lost their sixth straight home game after winning their home opener against Macon earlier this season. They faced a pitcher with a good 12-6 curveball this time on their field. Eli Castle pitched six innings with six strikeouts, four hits, three walks and one earned run and finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs at the plate.

“We just have to hit it where it’s pitched,” McCarty said. “On a 12-6, especially over the top like that, you're just trying to read that downward spin and trying to find his release point. We just couldn’t pick up the spin in time. We were taking it. Our hitters need to be more aggressive on the hanging curveballs and take it to right field.”

McCarty said not figuring out that pitch resulted in Mexico being behind in counts or hitting into outs. The Bulldogs needed to basically be better at “swinging at our strike zone.”

Finding the strike zone was a big factor in the previous night’s loss as Mexico pitchers issued 15 walks between five pitchers. Landon Hilderman (six strikeouts, six walks, five runs and four hits in 4⅓ innings) and Cooper Rowe (two walks, one strikeout, one unearned run and one walk in 2⅔ innings) did better at limiting walks for Mexico this time but had five walks in the fifth inning. Austin Maxwell’s RBI double and Jaydon Eldridge’s RBI groundout responded to a three-run Lafayette top half of the fifth inning, but the Fighting Irish had a 5-0 lead going into the bottom half of the fifth. 

“We’re just not dialed in,” McCarty said. “We’re thinking about the what if instead of what I’m going to do now. We have to be better at preparing ourselves for every pitch like, ‘What’s this pitch going to do? Is it going to be inside or should I hit the pull side here more?’”

Mexico gained three days between games when its games Saturday in Jefferson City were canceled. McCarty said the pitchers’ rest is managed well enough despite the big schedule of more than 30 games for Mexico, avoiding back-to-back games four outings a lot of the time. A reset is more necessary.

“Our pitchers are rested,” McCarty said. “We’re just being too complacent. We just have to do the small things more. We’ve got to focus on location, movement and velocity. Some of the time, we’re focusing more on velocity than location.”