Monday’s home game wasn’t a win for Mexico, but the Bulldogs felt good about themselves.

Mexico vs Helias Photo Gallery

After falling behind 5-0 to Class 5 No. 2 Helias Catholic in the fifth inning, the Bulldogs battled back within one run before losing 5-4. Sam Wyrick closed out the game for the Crusaders by striking out four in two innings — catching three Bulldogs looking — and by going 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI doubles.

Mexico (8-11) went from no offense against Helias’ Thorn Phillips to a near tie as the Bulldogs scored four runs in the fifth inning, taking advantage of two Crusader errors following four clean defensive innings. Matt McCurdy, Austin Maxwell and Andrew Runge each picked up an RBI in the 10-batter inning for Mexico, which began with a leadoff walk to Drew DeMint.

“By the fourth and fifth innings, we started making the adjustment to the right side,” head coach Daniel McCarty said. “Once the team started making those small adjustments, the whole field opened up. We started putting pressure on them.”

McCarty said the Bulldogs wanted to stay inside of the ball to counter the velocity of Phillips, who tied up a few Bulldogs with inside pitches to slow their adjustments.

McCarty noticed his players taking more quality at-bats in the fifth inning as Landyn Kleinsorge endured through an eight-pitch at-bat to find a hole on the left side, loading the bases with nobody out. McCurdy and Maxwell hit sacrifice flies before Sam Ryan reached on Helias’ second error of the inning and Runge placed an opposite-field RBI single into right field for a 5-4 deficit.

“We wanted to get wide and stay inside the ball because that guy’s velo is up there, but he was around the zone,” he said. “We started going middle away.”

Helias (14-5) finished with three infield errors after Phillips induced six groundouts through four innings without any signs of the Crusader infield faltering. Still, McCarty said he believed good moments like the fifth inning would happen if Mexico kept making contact.

“I was telling the guys, ‘Once they make a mistake, let’s just keep on pouring it on,’” he said. “The pressure got to them. These guys won’t lay down. They’ll compete with anybody day-in, day-out.”

The Crusaders outhit the Bulldogs 8-4 while compiling three RBI doubles in the game. They went back-to-back on balls that ricocheted off the fence in the first inning before Wyrick added two of his own later in the game.

Maxwell allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits but also struck out seven Crusaders in his four innings. Ryan only allowed an unearned run on three hits in his three innings on the mound.

“Austin had to come in and show his command with his fastball, get ahead with his fastball and come back with his offspeed,” McCarty said. “He did a good job locating and keeping them off-balance — only two hard-hit balls all game off of him. 

“Sam came in and threw strikes and kept them off-balance with his curveball and his changeup.”

Helias proved to be good fastball hitters and were able to stay back on some offspeed pitches, so McCarty said it was important for Mexico to read the batter’s stance and relay that information to his pitches and catcher Ty Sims.

“Anytime they were back, they were sitting on fastball,” McCarty said. “Anytime they were up in the box and wide, they were sitting on offspeed. It all worked out well but just came up short.”

McCarty pointed to the three errors committed by the Bulldogs and a leadoff hit by pitch that came around to score in one inning. 

Ultimately, Mexico’s third straight loss and fourth in five games hasn’t sapped the Bulldogs’ confidence. In this span, Mexico has only lost by a maximum of five runs in Friday’s 7-2 loss to defending state champion Father Tolton and has played Class 4 state-ranked Hallsville to a 7-4 margin.

“I believe if we play great competition, we’ll play great and eventually we’ll become great,” McCarty said. “I take this as a win tonight. We came out and battled, we didn’t give up and we competed every inning.”

Mexico continues its tough schedule as it visits Class 4 No. 9 Blair Oaks (13-12) at 5 p.m. Thursday.