Andalusia rallied back from an early deficit, but lost 7-6 to Russell County in Thursday night’s varsity baseball game in Andalusia.

Sim Bowden got the start on the mound for the Bulldogs and picked up a pair of strikeouts to start the game.

The Bulldogs struggled at the plate and went down in order in the bottom of the first inning.

After giving up a walk to start the top of the second inning, Bowden sat the next three batters down to retire the side.

Andalusia went back to the plate, but still had trouble making solid contact and went down in order again in the bottom of the second inning.

In the top of the third inning, a couple of errors and a pair of base hits from Russell County gave them a 2-0 advantage.

The Bulldogs looked like they might go down in order again in the bottom of the third inning, but Grant Holley reached on a dropped third strike with two outs to give Andalusia their first base runner of the game.

Ethan Wilson followed with a line drive to right-center field, but a quick throw in kept Holley from scoring on the play.

Russell County took advantage of another error and a few base hits to take a 5-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning.

After two quick outs to start the bottom of the fourth inning, Chip Morgan drew a walk to give the Bulldogs some life.

Brennan Strong followed with a single up the middle, and then both runners moved up 90 feet on passed ball.

Garrett Davis then came through with an RBI single.

Sebaskin Stallworth kept the Bulldogs alive with a hard-hit ball to short that caused a throwing error and allowed two runs to come around to score.

Holley drew a walk to put Bulldog runners at first and second with Wilson stepping up to the plate.

Wilson took a couple of pitches before putting solid contact on the ball and sending it sailing off the scoreboard for a 3-run home run to put the Bulldogs up 6-5.

Russell County was able to add a run in the sixth and seventh to defeat the Bulldogs.

“We didn’t make the routine plays at the end of the game. It’s as simple ast that.” Bulldogs’ head coach Tyler Dent said. “That is something you can’t do against a good team like Russell County.”