At one point in Mexico’s Thursday home game with Kirksville, lightning struck.

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The Bulldogs were hoping metaphorical lightning would strike a ninth straight time, but an 8-5 loss to their North Central Missouri Conference foe brought their eight-game losing streak to an end. On a rainy and chilly night, not far removed from a storm in the early afternoon, Mexico unraveled in the sixth inning by allowing four runs to fall behind 7-2.

Mexico had to deal with a lot before first pitch pertaining to the weather conditions, head coach Daniel McCarty said, knowing the fact that Kirksville (9-7, 3-6 NCMC) was the last team the Bulldogs (12-7, 3-3 NCMC) lost to on March 29. The complications from a 30-minute lightning delay in the fourth inning added to it. Bottom line, though, he said Mexico could have won on Thursday if not for self-inflicted errors.

“We didn’t play bad today, but we just beat ourselves in one inning,” McCarty said. “We were right there 3-2. We tried to be aggressive (in the fourth inning) when stealing home.”

McCarty is referring to when Brady Fox attempted to steal home but was called out at the plate, which he didn’t agree with. The Bulldogs scored two runs that fourth inning after a failed double-play attempt by Kirksville but didn’t score again until the sixth inning.

Kirksville had plenty of insurance partially thanks to a two-RBI single by Cole Kelly but also plated two runs when Mexico’s defense elected to throw to home instead of going to another base for an out. The Tigers scored another on a fielder’s choice play in the seventh inning on a tapper that was fielded by then-pitcher Drew DeMint.

McCarty said Fox pitched well and was hitting his spots for the most part in his five innings with four hits, three runs, three strikeouts and three walks. He said Fox sitting for an extended period of time due to the lightning delay was a concern, but Fox’s pitch count had already risen too high until he finished with 86 pitches. Carter Pinkerton finished with three RBI, followed by two from Kelly and Jack Thomas, and Jace Kent was 4-for-4 with three runs scored.

“There were one or two kids that had his number,” McCarty said. “We just couldn’t get them out tonight. Normally he’s around 65 or 70, and with everything going on with the elements, we just made the move instead of going out there for 10 pitches.”

McCarty said Mexico had a week ravaged by severe weather as Thursday brought questions of whether the game could be finished but so did Tuesday. The Bulldogs’ game at conference foe Hannibal was postponed due to a possibility of severe weather, which didn’t help the team’s momentum.

“By game time at 5 o’clock, it was sunny out,” McCarty said. “That messed with our momentum. We just got done playing on Monday so we were ready to go, and we had to wait until Thursday to play a game.”

Before Mexico plays another conference game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Moberly (11-4, 2-2 NCMC) — after initially being postponed due to weather — it hopes what little momentum is created in the seventh inning Thursday can help spark a new winning streak. After Austin Maxwell, who reached on an error, scored via another error, Kaden Benne picked up a RBI single to cut Kirksville’s deficit to 8-5 to bring the tying run to the plate.

Ashton Belcher went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and two walks, Sam Ryan walked four times, Benne had a RBI, and DeMint finished 2-for-3.

“All we needed was one more base hit and then it’s bases loaded and then look out,” McCarty said. “We would have had our 1-2-3 up, who could hit a home run if they tried to. It’s one of those things about baseball is to seize the opportunity when it’s there. We’re going to have to start over again on Saturday.”