BERNIE -- In the bottom of the fourth inning, everyone briefly forgot they were in the middle of a pitchers' duel.
After three scoreless innings, Bernie broke through for eight runs, including a grand slam by Nate Dillinger. It was the only frame where either team scored as Bernie went on to win the Bernie September Showdown, and final game of its fall season, 8-0 over Neelyville.
Matt Dollins for Neelyville (16-7) and Gavin Brown for Bernie (19-2) were on the hill and both dominated their first time through the lineups.
Dollins faced one over the minimum through three innings and had three strikeouts. He allowed two runners on early, both in the first inning, after Wyatt Barnett was hit by a pitch and Dalton Hobgood hit into a fielder's choice.
Going into the bottom of the fourth, Dollins had retired seven straight.
Brown was just as tough to hit, throwing three pitches for strikes including several bouncing curve balls for swinging strikes. He allowed a single with the first pitch of the game for his only hit through three innings.
Carter Petty also reached in the first inning on a dropped third strike -- one of those curves in the dirt -- and Austin Ennis walked in the second inning to give the Tigers a trio of baserunners through three innings.
Like Dollins, Brown was settling into the game in the third inning, when he struck out the side.
The tone of the game, though, was altered suddenly in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Mules opened with four singles and a walk, including RBI singles for Brown and Blake Beacham.
With the bases loaded, Dillinger cranked one over the right-center field wall for his only hit of the game to put the Mules ahead 6-0.
"Our older guys got up for the second time around in the order. Credit to their (pitcher). Everything he threw had a lot of movement, so the first part of the game he caught us off guard and kind of jammed us in on the hands. Second time through the lineup, the guys were able to square balls up," Bernie coach Marcus Massey said.
Mason Mayberry singled behind Dillinger, marking the end of Dollins' day.
Mayberry scored and leadoff hitter Weston Comstock soon singled and scored as the Mules batted around.
"They got the infield hit, they got a couple bunts down that inning, then they had the big hit with the bases loaded. That's baseball. We have to find a way to bounce back," Neelyville coach Tyler Thompson said. "The other six innings, I thought we played pretty good defense tonight."
Of Bernie's seven hits in the game, six were in the fourth inning.
"One big inning has kind of been our nemesis all year in games we've lost. We have to find a way to not get that snowball rolling. Once something happens, we have to find a way to shut it down. But we'll be fine," Thompson said. "They got the job done with runners on and we couldn't get the job done when we got runners on and their pitcher is tough."
Neelyville relief pitcher Wyatt Moon allowed one hit and two walks over the final three innings. Dollins finished with six hits and two walks against with three strikeouts.
Brown, meanwhile, continued his strong performance and finished with two hits and three walks allowed with 10 strikeouts.
He never faced more than five hitters in any inning and didn't allow a hit after the fourth.
"Gavin was real sharp today. He was throwing two kinds of curve balls. He was throwing one lower and then another one that was like a slider. When you are throwing three pitches for strikes, you are making it tough on the hitters and you can get them chasing pitches maybe out of the zone they normally," Massey said. "(The defense was) solid. And to Gavin's credit, they didn't hit a whole lot of balls hard, but everything that was hit happened to be at somebody today and the defense did a good job of staying down on balls and making plays."
Both of Bernie's losses in the fall were to undefeated Oran. Of the Mules' 19 wins, seven were by at least 10 runs.