COVINGTON - After what has been a rough week in baseball for the Eastside High squad, things didn't fare any better on Friday night in region play.

The Eagles were handed their third straight loss within a span of seven days to the Madison County Bulldogs, falling 9-3.

"We need to start realizing what we are capable of," said Poor after the game, "and right now it's not hitting for big runs. We need to go out and play for one run an inning. It's nothing physical with our team - right now it's all mental."

In the first inning, Eastside (1-6 overall, 1-4 Region 8-AAAA South) got off to yet another slow start, allowing the Bulldogs (5-2, 4-1) to take the early lead, scoring four runs.

Cameron Davenport cut the deficit to 4-1 after getting an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning.

However, the Bulldogs plated two more runs in the second to give them a commanding 6-1 edge.

During that span, Eastside starting pitcher Daniel Digby gave up six runs in two and two thirds innings of work. Putting the Eagles in a hole, the Bulldogs forced Eastside head coach Michael Poor to turn to his bench early. And looking for some type of answer, Poor found it in his junior hurler Tim Roton.

While Roton employed a firm grip on the mound, the Eastside bats started to wake up in the fourth frame. An RBI single off the bat of Travis Marks followed by an RBI double from Jared Trust found the Eagles down 6-3 heading into the fifth.

With a solid outing from Roton, who gathered seven strikeouts while only allowing two hits in three full innings of work, he appeared to lose a little bit of steam during the sixth. After a leadoff walk followed by back-to-back RBI singles, the Bulldogs were able to pull ahead and never look back.

Overall, Madison County pounded out 11 hits compared to five by the Eagles.

Trust led Eastside at the plate with a pair of doubles.

Defensively, both teams played solid in the field, committing just one error apiece.