Enterprise's Dalton Baxley tags out Richton's Colton Mcleod on his way to first base Friday night after a bunted ball.

Missed opportunities plagued Enterprise’s evening in Game 1 of its second-round playoff series against Richton. 

The Bulldogs committed three errors, which Richton turned into three runs Friday to grab a 5-4 win in eight innings, putting the Rebels ahead 1-0 in the best-of-three series.

With the score tied at 4 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Enterprise loaded the bases with two outs. Dylan Stroud lifted a shot to deep left field, and for a moment, it appeared the sophomore’s hit would be the game winner.  However, Richton right fielder Kyle Earwood snagged the ball just a couple feet from the wall to send the game into extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, Earwood reached first base on an Enterprise throwing error, which allowed Tyler Graham to score the go-ahead run.

“We played hard, and we got after it, we just didn’t play well,” Enterprise coach John Welch said. “We’ve got to play better. They played better than we did, and that’s why they won.”

 Despite a stellar performance, Enterprise pitcher Dalton Baxley took the loss. Baxley went 6 2/3 innings, and struck out 11 Richton batters while not yielding any earned runs. He also allowed just two hits.

Baxley induced two outs in the top of the sixth but was pulled because he reached his pitch limit. A 23-pitch first inning didn’t help.

“He got to 120, and there was a discussion,” Welch said. “That’s the max we can throw, and there was a discussion about when we have to pull him, or if he could finish the batter. We had to go get him because he reached his pitch count.”

River Kidd entered in relief. He pitched 1 1/3 innings, didn’t allow any earned runs and surrendered one hit. Kidd, who leads the Bulldogs in RBIs and home runs, smashed his fourth home run of the year, a solo shot, to left field in the bottom of the fifth. Kidd ended with a game-high three RBIs, he tallied two hits and scored two runs.

“He got a big hit, and he came in and pitched very well for us to keep us in the ball game,” Welch said. “We just have to play better defensively. If we play better defensively, then we’ll be OK.”

Kidd singled in the bottom of the third to score Zack Brewster, and Trey Beech scored on a throw during Kidd’s at-bat to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. Ridge Mathis knocked in Kidd three batters later to push Enterprise ahead 3-1.

Richton tied the score at 3 at the top of the fifth after an Enterprise error and took a one-run lead into the bottom of the fifth.

Kidd’s fifth-inning shot rounded out the Bulldogs’ scoring for the night.

“It’s always a battle with them,” Welch said. “They’re a really good baseball team, and we are too, but we have to play better. We have to go down there (Saturday) and play better. If we do that, I think we’ll be OK.”