Mexico’s infield turf was put to work on Thursday.

After Kirksville hit a leadoff triple that eventually scored the game’s first run, the Bulldogs limited their North Central Missouri Conference rival to two hits in a 5-1 victory. Kaden Benne pitched seven innings with six strikeouts and two walks for Mexico (14-8, 4-3 NCMC). 

Head coach Daniel McCarty said Benne was throwing strikes early in the first inning but settled down more in the innings that followed. Kirksville (3-12, 1-8 NCMC) hit 12 ground balls, which were mostly handled by the Mexico infield, on a night where the ball was carried by the wind.

Mexico vs Kirksville Photo Gallery

“KB is usually a fly ball pitcher,” McCarty said. “He did a good job tonight by keeping it low. His sinker was working very well. I think he threw that 18-19 times tonight. Fourteen of them were strikes at least. He was executing that.”

McCarty said Benne also did well pitching out of trouble. In the fourth inning, the first two Kirksville batters reached only for the Tigers to not score. Benne closed the inning by picking a runner off second base. 

Chance McCarty put in a lot of steps at shortstop. He was involved in seven outs, including when he received the pickoff throw from Benne in the fourth inning. 

“Normally, a lot of times when he pitches, he likes to throw it past people,” Chance McCarty said. “Most of the time, teams like to pull the ball. We’ve played this team multiple times, and I think they’ve seen Kaden before. I was mentally ready for it. I knew what I had to do: just play in a little bit and beat the wind.”

McCarty covered quite a bit of ground on some outs. In the first inning, he finished off the inning by sliding up the middle, springing up to his feet and throwing a strike to first for the out while his sunglasses fell off his face.

“I’m just reading the batter and reading his swing,” McCarty said. “The first pitch, you can tell based off their load, whether they’re early or late or have a pull swing or oppo(site-field) swing. I just learn from it.”

His father and head coach said Mexico’s defense played well overall outside of some errors made in the seventh inning. Daniel McCarty said Kirksville put on a defensive show by making 5-6 diving catches, so having Chance McCarty and the rest of the seniors lead the defense like that was important.

“He showed some range and arm strength tonight,” McCarty said. “It’s something I expect out of that senior group. It definitely helped our offense get the momentum back.”

Kinser Groves finished 2-for-3 with one RBI, Brayden Arnold and Brady Fox were each 2-for-3, and Gatlin Denham had one RBI. 

Not many balls traveled far, despite the wind, but Drew DeMint crushed one over the left field fence. DeMint hit a solo home run in the third inning for his second home run of the year. The senior found his pitch after working the count to 3-2, which coach McCarty said isn’t too irregular.

“He’s a very good two-strike hitter,” McCarty said. “I think he’s hit all of his triples and home runs with two strikes. He’s very disciplined with two strikes.”

McCarty said he liked how the offense scored in each of the first four innings against Kyle White but struggled in the final three innings against the funky, left-handed delivery of Ryan Showers. 

Mexico won a close 11-9 game in Hannibal prior to the Kirksville game and lost a close 3-1 game at Centralia not too long before that. If the Bulldogs want to gain redemption at 5 p.m. Friday against conference and district rival Fulton (5-10, 3-4 NCMC), McCarty said they have to be better with runners in scoring position.

“We hit a wall there,” McCarty said. “It was more of a timing issue. We’ve got to be better about sitting back and being patient in those situations.”