BERNIE -- Wyatt Moon opened play by blasting a home run through the dying winds of Hurricane Irma, blowing in from left field, to give Neelyville a two-run lead in the top of the first inning.
However, 14 of the next 15 Tigers were retired as Bernie pulled away to win 10-3 on Tuesday.
"I think early, we came out and really locked in and focused on hitting. We came out and did a good job on that, got an early lead 6-2 and got a little lackadaisical at the plate. Got a little too relaxed and got out of the zone a little bit," Bernie coach Marcus Massey said. "I think the mental approach at the plate changed. From just trying to get on base to wanting to hit balls out of the park. You can see swings kind of change in heads start to pull a little bit more when we got up 6-2 and felt like we were in a good position where early on it was whatever it takes to get on we're willing to do."
The Mules (11-1) put together four hits and two hit by pitches in the first inning, including a double by Wyatt Barnett, and batted around for six runs. Five different players connected for a RBI.
The offense slowed quickly, though. The Mules tacked on two runs in the top of the second after Weston Comstock and Barnett singled and scored, but managed two more hits the rest of the game. One of them was two-run homer by Barnett in the sixth inning.
"I thought we did a good job after that first inning really, 4-1 game after the first," Neelyville coach Tyler Thompson said. "Other part of that was I didn't have them prepared to play. So I'll take some of that blame. We've got to be ready to play from the first pitch and I didn't think we were ready to play today."
Neelyville (9-4) was unable to overcome its defensive mistakes and got all of its runs off a pair of home runs.
"I thought this was one of the worst games we've played defensively," Thompson said.
"We've gotta come out and be more prepared than that. I looked and we had five or six errors today and you just aren't going to win very many ballgames like that. They put the ball in play and made us field it and we just kicked around too much."
Moon had his two-run shot over the short fence in left in the top of the first inning that drove in Noah Burton, who walked, and Warren Griffin added a solo shot over center field fence in the fifth.
The Tigers had four hits and three walks off Bernie pitcher Nate Dillinger and got eight total players on base.
Dillinger also struck out six and retired the side in the third and fourth innings.
"He did a good job. He was battling. He's a solid player, pretty good day," Massey said. "Defense was solid all day. They didn't strike out a lot so we had to make a lot of plays."
Griffin, who batted ninth in the order for the Tigers, was 2 for 3 with a home run and was the only Tiger to get two hits.
Burton reached base twice after walking in the first and singling in the fifth.
The Nos. 3-6 hitters for Neelyville were a combined 0 for 10 with two walks and four strikeouts.
"We just didn't put together very good at bats today. Swung a lot of first pitches that I thought weren't really our pitches. It's a credit to their pitcher he did a good job. He threw strikes and made us look silly at the plate today," Thompson said.
Barnett was a triple away from getting the cycle and scored three times.
Comstock also scored three times without getting a hit. He was hit twice and reached on an error in the second inning.