Two-out miscues dampened an otherwise encouraging performance by the Fulton Hornets baseball team.
All the runs allowed by Fulton came with two outs as the Hornets bowed to the Kirksville Tigers 6-3 in a North Central Missouri Conference matchup Thursday night.
Fulton (2-5, 0-2 NCMC) jumped ahead 1-0 in the top of the first inning when sophomore second baseman Josh Quick scored when Kirksville misplayed sophomore catcher Isaiah Pani's grounder.
Hornets senior starter Blake Thompson needed just five pitches to retire the first hitters in Kirksville's half of the third. The Tigers extended the inning with a pair of walks, then used an RBI single and a two-run double on consecutive plate appearances to grab a 3-1 edge.
Fulton had Kirksville down to its final out in the fourth, but the Tigers managed to tack on a pair of runs on an error by the Hornets and an RBI single.
"We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit," Fulton head coach Darren Masek said. "We were real close, but at the same time, we have to eliminate some of these mistakes we're making."
The Hornets pulled within 5-3 on RBI singles from sophomore pinch-hitter Jared Peery and junior center fielder Zach Franklin in the sixth. The Tigers, though, added an insurance run with two outs in their half of the inning.
Fulton outhit Kirksville 8-7, but committed five errors after having 10 in a 14-9 non-conference win at Eldon on Tuesday night. Quick went 2-for-3, Franklin was 1-for-3 and Peery finished 1-for-1 for the Hornets on Thursday night.
Thompson took the loss for Fulton, allowing six runs - four earned - on six hits in four innings. He issued three walks and struck out two.
"... Tonight, we got some hits from guys off the bench," Masek said. "I feel better where we are offensively, we just have to clean up things defensively."
Fulton returns home for an NCMC make-up game against the Marshall Owls at 5 p.m. Monday.
"We're close," Masek said. "We just have to find a way to flip this a little bit and end up on the right side of the scoreboard, rather than the wrong end of the scoreboard."