Bloomfield baseball team slides past Holcomb 9-3

Note: A photo gallery of the Bloomfield-Holcomb baseball game is available here: View Baseball Photos

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Bloomfield's Cameron Pulley makes a throw from left.

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - A late arriving spectator would have missed out on most of the fun Thursday afternoon in the high school baseball contest between the Bloomfield Wildcats and Holcomb Hornets.

The Wildcats and Hornets combined to calculate 10 runs in the opening two innings of play.

Bloomfield overcame an early 2-0 deficit with five runs in the bottom of the first inning and three more in the bottom of the second inning to build an 8-2 advantage by the start of the third inning.

Pitching dominated the rest of the way for both clubs as Bloomfield held on for a 9-3 victory against Holcomb.

"We talk about playing a complete seven all the time," Bloomfield coach Tyler Trover said. "I don't think we did that today. I thought we went into cruise control in the later innings. It's something a young team has to learn how to overcome. I really liked our approaches at the plate the first couple innings, but we lost focus and that's something we'll have to really work on the rest of the season."

Holcomb came out of the gates on fire offensively. The Hornets collected four of its five hits in the top of the first inning. Colton Dunbar had an RBI double in the frame and Matthew Finley followed with an RBI single to put the Hornets on top 2-0.

"The boys come out and hit the ball about as good as we've hit it all season at the start of the game," Holcomb coach Matt Casper said. "We've been struggling a little bit offensively, but the start of the game was a positive for us to see."

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Bloomfield's Alex Gibbs races to third base.

The Wildcats drew five walks and collected two hits in the bottom of the first inning. Noah Vandiver drove home Bloomfield's first run when he grounded out with a runner at first base. Caleb Pulley had a two-RBI single later in the frame to put the Wildcats on top. Nate Cazee collected an RBI on a sacrifice fly before the first inning ended to pad Bloomfield's lead to 5-2.

Jacob Hector had a two-RBI double in the bottom of the second inning. The Wildcats scored another run in the frame on one of Holcomb's three second-inning errors.

Bloomfield tallied its final run in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI single by Jacob Hector, who finished 3 for 4 with a team-high three RBIs.

"He was a really important piece to our puzzle last year in the spring as a freshman," Trover said of his standout slugger. "He's really fought it this fall. He's been working really hard to get out of a slump and today it paid off. He had three really good swings and we just need him to continue hitting because he's going to be a very important part of our club the next two years."

Jacob Hector also picked up a complete-game victory on the hill. He allowed three runs, two of which were earned, in seven innings pitched. He struckout four and walked one.

Zach Bridges also turned in a lights out three-inning relief performance for Holcomb. Bridges retired the first eight hitters he faced before allowing an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"Zach came in and did a good job," Casper said. "He threw strikes and kept it around the plate. Bloomfield is a good team that puts the ball in play and we made some defensive plays behind him."

Holcomb returns to action Tuesday when it visits Campbell.

Bloomfield, which currently supports a record of 10-3, plays three juggernauts in the next 48 hours. The Wildcats host East Carter County Friday at 4:30 p.m., play Neelyville at Cooter Saturday at 1 p.m. and play Cooter at Cooter Saturday at 3 p.m. East Carter County advanced to the Class 2 quarterfinals last season, Cooter won the Class 1 state championship last season and Neelyville won the 2013 September Showdown.

"I told the kids 'our focus of being mentally tough is going to have to really improve Friday and heading into the next seven games,'" Trover said. "Our schedule gets brutal in a hurry. We need to see where we are at at this point. We have a nice record and that's fine. We've beaten the teams we were supposed to beat, but now it's time to start competing against teams that are maybe a little bit better than us. I think we are to the point now where we are ready to compete with just about any team, but with that being said we'll find out in the next week."

Bloomfield 9, Holcomb 3

HHS 200 001 0 - 3 5 4

BHS 350 001 x - 9 7 3

WP - Jacob Hector. LP - Pearson McClendon. 2B - Jacob Hector (B) Colton Dunbar (H), Zach Bridges (H). Multiple hits - Bloomfield: Jacob Hector 3-4.

DUSTIN WARD - dward@dailystatesman.com Bloomfield's Nate Cazee measures a pitch.

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