Judging from two games Saturday, it didn’t seem like Mexico had an active eight-game losing streak.

Mexico vs North Callaway Photo Gallery

The Bulldogs snapped that streak with a 16-9 victory over Eldon to end pool play in the Southern Boone Invitational and then defeated North Callaway 9-0 for fifth place thanks to a Sam Ryan no-hitter. Mexico won both games in Mexico after dropping the previous two tournament games the previous day, scoring one combined run against state-ranked Fatima (19-8) and Fulton (14-6).

Mexico (14-14) had only scored 10 runs during its eight-game slide but had that much after four innings against Eldon (17-10). The Bulldogs took advantage of 10 walks but also finished with 12 hits and then followed that up with 11 hits against North Callaway (14-9), defeating both teams a second time this season. Eight Bulldogs had at least a RBI against Eldon and then seven carried the run-producing load against North Callaway.

“Today, one through nine was hitting,” head coach Daniel McCarty said. “We needed that going into district play Tuesday. It was good to see our boys come out hitting and take advantage of the situations.”

McCarty said Mexico has tried to set up scoring situations after going through its recent struggles. The Bulldogs won eight straight games this season but then followed that eight consecutive losses, reaching a maximum output of five runs during that stretch. On Saturday, McCarty said he was seeing his players doing the “small things” so they can move on to “bigger things.”

“We’ve been focusing on the small things — getting bunts down, moving runners over, creating that big hit and stealing the extra bag,” McCarty said. “We’ve been competing in every ballgame, but we just haven’t found that certain hit to get us the lead so we started focusing more on small things. Once we started doing that, it opened things up.”

Austin Maxwell was 4-for-8 with four RBI on Saturday. Chance McCarty finished 5-for-8 with three RBI, Ashton Belcher was 2-for-5 with three RBI and two walks, and Brady Fox was 4-for-9 with three RBI. Zach Jahn also had three RBI. 

Sam Ryan picked up one RBI in each game, but his biggest contributions were on the mound against North Callaway. Ryan struck out eight and walked four through seven innings. He said he felt like he could put his fastball and slider anywhere for a strike.

"I think it was because my arm wasn't hurting finally for once," Ryan said. "I was able to throw as hard as I could for strikes and aim my pitches anywhere. Defense did great. They put it in play, and it was an easy out."

Ryan said he is relieved the losing streak is over and now hopes Mexico can muster another winning streak before districts at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday against fourth-ranked Father Tolton (18-6) in the Class 4 District 8 tournament at Southern Boone in Ashland. 

“Now we know how to win again,” Ryan said. “Whoever we play this week, they better watch out.”