Franklin County High School coach Josh Thibodeaux wishes he could take away the third inning of Friday night’s loss to West Marion, 6-0.

Now just one game away from being eliminated from the MHSAA Class 3A Playoffs, the Bulldogs need to do better than their early fault, Thibodeaux said.

“We had one bad inning, and if you take that away it’s 1-0 through seven,” he said. “We have a chance then.”

Friday’s Game 1 of the second-round series began even-keel until the Trojans strung together a few hits and were also aided by a handful of Bulldog errors in the third. West Marion scored five runs in the inning.

“There are going to be times that things are not going to go your way,” Thibodeaux said. “It’s tough to come back from that, but it’s all about how you respond.”

The Bulldogs were faced with a lack of offense through the entire night, but after the Trojans took an early lead, they never looked back.

While Thibodeaux admitted Franklin County looked uncharacteristic on all fronts, he said he wasn’t shocked by how his team kept their calm.

“I felt like we didn’t give up,” he said. “We were still taking good approaches at the plate, and we still made plays in the field.

“But, it is baseball. Sometimes you make plays and sometimes you don’t.”

Jace Watts took the loss for the Bulldogs, tossing four innings. Dalivan Hunt had the only hit on the night.

In today’s Game 2 at West Marion, Thibodeaux said he hopes his team is ready to move on.

“We just have to get ready,” he said. “The great thing is that at any point in time the momentum could shift. We could easily be looking at a Game 3 here.”

Today matchup is set for a 6 p.m. first pitch.