Mexico’s bats stayed hot, and North Callaway’s eyes were opened.

Mexico at North Callaway Photo Gallery

Mexico defeated Class 3 No. 5 North Callaway 15-2 in five innings on Monday in Auxvasse to give the Bulldogs their third double-digit scoring performance in four games and the Thunderbirds’ first loss this season. The game was sealed when Mexico scored 11 runs in the fifth inning, and North Callaway finished with a season-high seven errors to go with nine unearned runs.

Mexico head coach Daniel McCarty said Mexico’s bats were “alive” over the weekend when the team scored 41 runs in a 2-1 Eugene Quad on Friday and Saturday. McCarty said he thought the Bulldogs (10-7) could use Monday’s conditions to keep those bats hot.

“Our approach today is we’re on a dirt field,” McCarty said. “Let’s just make contact and put the pressure on them. We put the bat on the ball and sprayed the whole field. They made mistakes, and we capitalized on them.”

Keaton Bell had a rough line after pitching almost five innings for North Callaway (8-1) but only trailed 4-2 after the fourth inning following a Carson Bassett RBI single and Chance Green hit by pitch. After being taken out with two outs in the fifth inning following a bases-clearing double by Landon Hilderman, Bell had allowed six earned runs. 

McCarty said the William Woods University signee knows how to work on the mound and especially how to work quickly.

“We had to make an adjustment on taking our time at the plate,” McCarty said. “Get our 20 seconds to get up there, get a call and get in the box to get ready to go. After that first inning, that pitcher had to wait on us and threw him out of rhythm.”

North Callaway head coach Kirt Kleindienst said the Thunderbirds weren’t in rhythm as a team and were specifically lacking in mental preparation. Kleindienst said he thinks this has been a problem that became apparent because North Callaway played a team like Mexico that could exploit those weaknesses. 

Kleindienst said the inability to catch and field the ball stuck out the most against Mexico and is an aspect he wants strong as a defensive-minded coach. The Thunderbirds made many of those mistakes, had baserunning miscues such as a pickoff at second base to end the first inning and finished with only one hit.

“We have been inconsistent on many things I harp on,” Kleindienst said. “Finally, we had an opponent that could capitalize on the things I harp upon. One error leads to three and three leads to five and that leads to not good baseball. Our mental preparation overall has been below par all year.”

Kleindienst said Mexico did well putting the ball in play against North Callaway’s No. 1 pitcher Bell in the form of 13 hits. Landon Hilderman and Kaden Benne each went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a double, Drew DeMint finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs, Jaydon Eldridge went 2-for-3 with one RBI, and Austin Maxwell, Brady Fox, Chance McCarty and Brayden Arnold each had one RBI in a game where every Mexico hitter had at least one hit.

“When you give a club like that an extra three to four outs in a game, you’re going to lose, probably,” Kleindienst said. “When you give them an extra eight to 10, you’re going to get what you deserve at that point and we did.”

Kleindienst said he remembers errors more than hits, but hits were an issue for North Callaway as well, saying the Thunderbirds aren’t “quite where I want us to be in the batter’s box up and down the order.” A game can’t be won with a hit, and Maxwell didn’t allow much in five innings, finishing with nine strikeouts, four walks and two earned runs.

“Austin had very good command tonight, throwing his offspeed and his fastball for strikes,” McCarty said. “He was getting ahead and kept them off-balance. They were guessing and didn’t know what was coming.”

Mexico didn’t quite reach 11 runs in Friday’s 21-2 victory over Hallsville but had innings with eight and nine runs in the 20-hit performance. DeMint was one of two Bulldogs — along with Eldridge — to have a perfect day (5-for-5) at the plate to go with a home run and five RBI. 

DeMint said the Bulldogs had the confidence it could hit and continue to hit Bell after it had similar feelings over the weekend. Before this past weekend, Mexico lost a season-high five straight games, including one-run losses to conference state-ranked opponents like Moberly and Fulton.

“We’re hitting the ball now and seeing it better,” DeMint said. “When we were losing, we weren’t making hard contact. It was all popups and groundouts. Now, I feel like we’re making solid contact.”

The home runs in the Hallsville game were Mexico’s first ones of the season before Hilderman hit one out in the next game — a 7-4 loss to Eugene. McCarty said those are the rewards for consistent hard contact.

“We preach square the ball, good things will happen,” McCarty said. “Line drives rise if you square it up hard enough. Over the weekend and tonight, that’s what we’ve done. We hit balls over the outfielders heads and were diving everywhere.”

Kleindienst said he hopes this first loss can wake North Callaway up and motivates his team to rise above Monday’s performance on the offensive and defensive side.

“Only one direction to go from there,” Kleindienst said. “It was the worst of both worlds today.”

Mexico (0-4 NCMC) hosts Centralia (7-5) at 5 p.m. Thursday, and North Callaway (4-0 EMO) plays at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Elsberry (2-6, 1-2 EMO) at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Mexico huge offensive day begins 2-1 weekend in Eugene

Mexico had its best offensive day in years during a winning weekend in Eugene.

The Bulldogs defeated Hallsville 21-2 in five innings on Friday in the Eugene Quad and then lost the next day to Eugene 7-4 and won 16-1 in five innings against Waynesville. Mexico’s 21 runs against Hallsville is the most it has scored in a game since a 21-9 victory over Moberly in a 2018 district game.

Mexico tallied 20 hits, six doubles and two home runs against Hallsville (3-9). Drew DeMint went 5-for-5 with five RBIs, a home run and a double, Jaydon Eldridge went 3-for-3 with five RBIs, home run and a double, Landon Hilderman finished 3-for-4 with four RBI, Brady Fox went 3-for-5 with three RBI and two doubles and Sam Ryan finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a double. Fox pitched four innings with five hits, five strikeouts, two earned runs and one walk.

The Bulldogs allowed seven runs to Eugene (6-6) with two outs in the sixth inning. Eugene had two runners on with two outs, loaded the bases with a single, and three runs scored on walks, one via a balk and one crossed on an infield error. Ryan had a two-RBI single and Chance McCarty hit an RBI single in the bottom half of the sixth inning, and Hilderman hit a home run in the second inning. Kaden Benne pitched five innings with seven strikeouts, three hits and three walks.

In Mexico’s final game against Waynesville (3-8), it stole nine bases and scored eight runs in the third inning. DeMint went 3-for-3 with three stolen bases, two RBIs and two runs, Brayden Arnold went 2-for-2 with three runs, two RBIs and two stolen bases, Hilderman finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Eldridge and Fox each had two RBIs. Arnold pitched four innings with three hits, two strikeouts and one run.

North Callaway records back-to-back conference shutouts

North Callaway registered two double-digit scoring games last week.

The Thunderbirds won both road Eastern Missouri Conference games when they defeated Bowling 13-0 in five innings on April 8 and then Wellsville-Middletown 18-0 in three innings on Thursday. It was the fourth time in five games North Callaway scored double-digit runs and kept them at an undefeated 4-0 in conference.

Tucker Sheets had a big offensive night against Bowling Green (0-6, 0-1 EMO) by going 2-for-2 with four RBI, two doubles and two walks. Coltyn O'Neal finished 3-for-5 with three RBI and a double, and Carson Bassett had three RBI and a double. Keaton Bell pitched five innings with three hits, one strikeout and one walk and needed only 44 pitches. 

Tucker Sheets and CJ Cunningham each went 2-for-2 with two RBIs against Wellsville (0-7, 0-3 EMO) and Caleb Sheets and Carter Moore each added two RBIs. Eight hitters each had at least one RBI to support the no-hit pitching effort by Tucker Sheets and Cunningham.