The Andalusia Bulldogs 8U All-Star baseball team put up a strong fight, but fell 20-10 to Luverne in the second round of the district tournament Friday night in Andalusia.

In the top of the first inning, Grover Wells led off the game with single back up the middle of the diamond.

Asher Bentley followed with a double to center field, but Luverne got the ball in quickly and didn’t allow the runner to score on the play.

The Bulldogs grabbed an early lead when Landon Butler hammered pitch into outfield that scored Wells and Bentley.

Andalusia continued to swing the bat well as Brayden Gunter pounced on a pitch for a run-scoring single.

A single from Sawyer Hardy then gave the Bulldogs runners on first and second.

Brodie Mullen then grounded into a fielder’s choice, but picked up an RBI on the play to give the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead.

Ashton Summers then drove in Mullen with a single to put Andalusia on top 5-0.

In the bottom of the first inning, the first batter ripped a ball to Bentley at short and Bentley fielded the ball cleanly and fired to Brayden Ware covering first for the first out of the inning.

The Luverne bats then came to life as they cut the lead to 5-3.

Another hit looked like it might give Luverne a runner at third, but Bentley fired to William Grimes who applied the tag at third for the second out of the frame.

Luverne then got another hit as they cut the Andalusia lead down to 5-4.

With runners on first and second, the next batter hit a ground ball to Grimes at third, and Grimes simply stepped on the bag for the final out of the inning.

The Bulldogs got a lead off single from Thomas Lee in the top of the second inning, and then got a one-out single from Ware.

Luverne was then able to turn a double play to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard in the second inning.

In the bottom of the second inning, Luverne’s bats remained hot as they took a 12-5 lead.

The Bulldogs weren’t going down without a fight and they clawed back into the game in the top of the third inning.

Bentley got things started with a single and then moved to third on a double from Butler.

Gunter followed with a rip to the outfield that scored Bentley and Butler to cut the Luverne lead down to 12-7.

Gunter then moved up to second on a single from Hardy.

Mullen followed with an RBI single to center field.

Summers kept things going for the Bulldogs with a RBI single to right field.

Noah Popwell then drove in a run with a fielder’s choice to cut the Luverne lead down to 12-10.

Luverne’s bats remained hot in the bottom of the third as they tacked on seven runs to take a 19-10 lead into the fourth inning.                  

The Bulldogs got a few hits in the top of fourth inning, but were unable to score any runs.

Luverne added a run in the bottom of the fourth to pick up a 20-10 victory.

With the win, Luverne advances in the winner’s bracket to take on Troy today at 10 a.m.

The Bulldogs will be back in action at 3 p.m., today when they take on the loser between Troy and Luverne.

Andalusia must win today to avoid be eliminated from the tournament.