Tenth-ranked Andalusia split against Cleveland and Hixson, Tenn., at the 2013 Pounder Invitational on Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Bulldogs lost 9-7 to Cleveland, and beat tournament host Hixson 4-3 in the closer.

Earlier in the invitational, AHS finished in a 11-11 tie with Polk County, Tenn., on Friday; and beat The Masters Academy 6-2 on Thursday.

“I think the experience was good,” Bulldogs coach Jonathan Rasberry said. “I thought our focus was bad. Their minds, I felt like, were somewhere else, be it the end of spring break.

“I thought the opportunity to go up there and play some different teams was good,” he said. “I thought we swung the bat real well, but our defensive focus and pitching focus wasn’t real good, other than the first day.”

For the tournament, AHS finished 2-1-1.

Cleveland, Tenn. 9, Andalusia 7

Quinton Maddox went 2-for-4 with an RBI; Brandon Smith went 2-for-3 with an RBI; and Zach Ward, Grayson Campbell, Justin Scherzinger, Will Harrison, Devin McDuffie and Hunter Earnest had one hit each for the Bulldogs.

Cleveland scored one run in the third inning and the game was tied 4-4 in the fifth.

CHS took a 7-4 lead in the sixth and tacked on two additional runs in the seventh, despite Andalusia scoring three runs in the other half of the frame.

When asked if Cleveland’s pitcher was good, Rasberry said the approaches to the plate were bad.

“We got better toward the end,” he said. “We just didn’t have a lot of focus. It was an early game. We got up and didn’t show up until the fifth inning. We didn’t turn it on. To me, it was a little too late.

“We had a couple of big defensive errors that cost us some runs,” he said.

Andalusia had the bases loaded and could’ve won the game, but the last out for the Bulldogs came on a pop up.

Ross Graham and Ward pitched for AHS on the mound.

Graham went five innings and allowed four runs on six hits and had six strikeouts. Ward went two innings and allowed five runs on three hits and struck out three for the loss.

Andalusia 4, Hixson 3

McDuffie hit a solo home run in the third inning and went 3-for-5 from the plate to lead the Bulldogs.

Earnest, Harrison, Brayden Burkhardt and Maddox had one hit each.

Maddox hit a double in the seventh inning to put the game in a 3-3 tie.

Andalusia ended up loading the bases and McDuffie hit a hard grounder with two outs to the short stop, who tried to back hand the ball, but hopped the throw to first to allow a run to score on the error.

Scherzinger got the win on the mound while giving up one hit in 4.1 innings of work. He struck out three batters.

“It was a good experience to get out and go up and spend the night somewhere else, and try to have a good time,” Rasberry said. “I do feel like we could’ve showed a lot better than what we’re made of. We got two wins not playing good baseball, but that’s a part of it.”

Andalusia (18-7-1) hosts Brantley in doubleheader action today, starting at 3:30 p.m.