The Bulldogs baseball team concluded its tough nonconference schedule Saturday.
Dove Creek got down early on the road against 2A Grand County and couldn't come back in Moab, Utah, losing 7-5.
"We got started off bad again," Bulldogs coach Ken Soper said. "It seems like, that so far, six out of our eight games, we get scored on in the first inning. It seems like our kids are just not ready yet to begin a game."
1A Dove Creek (5-3) has played every game against larger schools. The Bulldogs begin San Juan Basin League play today at home versus Ignacio. But coach Soper still wants to see more out of his team.
"We had kind of a bad week of practice and I think that just carried over," said Soper about leading up to Saturday's game. "I'm trying to get the team to believe that they're going to play like they practice - and we sure did."
The red hot Red Devils (11-2) got off to a scorching start and quickly built a 4-1 lead. The Bulldogs climbed to within 4-3 in the third inning, but that was as close as they would get.
Dove Creek only batted .250 for the game and was out-hit by Grand County, 12-6.
"We need to get our hitting going," Soper said. "We're going to have to get that going to win these league games. We got to improve on a little bit of everything."
Starting pitcher Dalton Randolph went six innings and struck out six Red Devils.
The Bulldogs play their home opener this afternoon against the Igncaio Bobcats at 3 in Dove Creek.