On Thursday night, the Cornersville Bulldogs (11-11) snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating the Loretto Mustangs 3-1 at home behind a stellar performance from senior pitcher Matt Callender.

Loretto (13-6) held a 1-0 lead through the first two innings of play, but the Bulldogs tallied a run in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 1-1, before crossing home plate two more times in the bottom of the fifth en route to claiming their 11th win of the year.

Second win

After struggling in his last outing against Richland, Callender looked razor sharp on Thursday and earned his second victory of the season by limiting the Mustangs to just two hits and a walk in seven innings of work while registering seven strikeouts.

Cornersville, meanwhile, finished with only five hits and two walks against Loretto starting pitcher Nick Suratt and reliever Briley Glass. Shortstop Tate Lowery paced the Bulldogs at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored, while Tyler Lowery, Cody Blackburn, and Zach Richards had one hit apiece.

Dakota Grey (1 RBI) and Austin Hobbs each singled to account for both Mustang hits. Suratt suffered the loss on the mound and allowed three runs in four and a third innings of work on five hits and a walk.

Loretto took advantage of some shaky defense by CHS early in the contest and tallied an unearned run in the top of the first inning to grab a 1-0 lead. After Hobbs and Jake Sharpton both reached base on errors to put men on first and second with no outs, both runners moved up 90 feet on a groundout by Miles Burks, before Grey plated Hobbs with a sacrifice fly.

Taking charge

Cornersville tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third when Tyler Lowey raced home on a one-out RBI single by Tate Lowery after singling and advancing to second on an errant pickoff throw by Suratt.

The Bulldogs then left men on first and second in the fourth inning, but pushed across two runs in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a pair of singles from Tate Lowery and Blackburn, a Neil Davis RBI groundout, and a wild pitch to seize a 3-1 lead.

After Callender worked around a leadoff single by Hobbs in top of the sixth, CHS missed a chance to pad their lead when they left the bases loaded in the bottom half of the frame.

In the top of the seventh, the Mustangs managed to bring the tying run to the plate after Austin Stooksberry drew a two-out walk, but Callender bore down and struck out Glass to secure the Bulldogs' 3-1 victory.