POPLARVILLE — Despite putting up a fight and finding some success with the bats, struggles on the mound and inconsistency proved to be too much for the Bears to overcome Thursday as they fell to the host No. 3 Pearl River Wildcats 23-1 in Game 1 of the best-of-three Region 23 play-in series.
 
"I thought that we swung the bats well and I thought that we did well against a good arm but we didn't give ourselves a chance on the mound to win a baseball game today," Southwest head coach Jack Edmonson said.

The Bears (23-27) struggled to find the right formula on the mound to slow the potent Wildcats down as six pitchers logged time for Southwest in the loss.
 
Both Southwest starter Brycen Smith and Pearl River starter Luke Lyon got off to strong starts, allowing no blemishes in the first inning.
 
In the second, the Wildcats got two hits, coupled with a walk to load the bases before a single, a ground out and a passed ball during three-consecutive at bats plated four runs, putting the Bears down 4-0.
 
Southwest threatened in the third as it too loaded the bases, but unfortunately, the Bears were unable to score.
 
The following inning, Pearl River rallied, plating 10 additional runs making it a 14-0 deficit for Southwest. 
 
The Bears put together a rally of their own in the fourth as Colson Thompson reaching via an error was accompanied by singles from Christian Kell, Brett Boutwell and Tyler Otts, with the latter's scoring a run making the score 14-1. The momentum, unfortunately, ended as a strikeout was followed by a double-play, ending the inning.
 
The hosts answered Southwest's rally with an additional nine runs in the bottom half of the fourth.
 
Southwest put one on base in the fifth as Mattew Latino singled, but the following batter grounded out marking the third out and sealing the win for Pearl River.
 
Kell led the Bears with two hits and a run scored. 

"Tomorrow is a new day and it is like I told our guys, we don't have to beat them twice, we just have to win one game tomorrow and then we will go at them on Saturday," Edmonson said. "I think that our guys want another shot and they know that they are better than what we played today and luckily we are better than what we played today." 

Game 2 is scheduled to get underway Friday at 4 p.m. in Poplarville.