New Albany scored singles runs in each of the first four innings and handed Seymour a 7-2 loss Monday in the opening round of the Hoosier Hills Conference baseball tournament at American Legion Field.

The Bulldogs outhit the Owls 10-6.

Owls coach Jeremy Richey said not having enough offense has kind of been the story of the season.

“I’ll tell you what, give them credit,” he said. “In (three of) the first four innings they get two out RBI hits, and that’s a pretty impressive thing to do at this level.”

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Click here to purchase photos from this gallery

The two-out RBI hits Richey talked about came in the first, third and fourth innings.

With one out in the bottom of the second, Tyler Bloom singled, and following a second out, Michael Knecht singled, but an infield out ended the rally.

Satoshi Hirose singled in the third inning but was left stranded.

With two outs in the fourth, Ty McCory, Knecht and Alex Holt hit back-to-back-to-back doubles to produce two runs.

“Michael does a nice job of getting a hit and Alex does a nice job,” Richey said. That’s two big ones in one inning where we haven’t had two of those in a while.”

The Bulldogs (10-5 and winners of six straight) added two runs in the fifth on a two-run homer by Dylan Clark, and used three walks and a passed ball to score a run in the seventh.

The Only base runner the Owls had in the final three innings was a walk to Luis Munoz in the fifth.

Ryan Robinson, a junior left-hander allowed the Owls six hits while striking out five and walking one.

“Their pitcher mixed it up well and he did a nice job,” Richey said. “We’re not scoring enough runs, and we’re giving up quite a few. It’s not a very good recipe right now.”

Knecht was the only Seymour batter to reach base safely twice.

The Owls (7-7) will host Scottsburg today and will be home to Floyd Central on Wednesday after the Highlanders lost to Jeffersonville 3-2 in eight innings on Monday in HHC play.

“We’ve got to come back (tonight) and find some things find some things and get some confidence, because we don’t look very confident right now,” Richey said.

The Owls committed two errors, and Richey said, “Every time we made a mistake they scored a run, and that’s what good teams do.

“We’ve got to start applying pressure and have other teams do that do us because we’re not putting a lot of things together, and I think our one-through-four hitters were 1-for-13 with a walk.”

Richey said he needs more production at the top.

“We are not taking advantage of many opportunities. We’re just getting nothing when we’re in a situation to get a couple of runs. The only thing I know to fix it is to keep working at it. At some point those opportunities are going to fall through for us.”

Munoz, playing center field, made a spectacular catch off the bat of Robinson in the third inning.

“That’s his second one like that this year,” Richey said referring to a catch he made earlier against Bedford North Lawrence. “It was the same situation where it doubles a guy off first base, just a heck of a play.

“That’s what we expect from Luis. That’s two of them where he’s going away from the plate. He was stretched out. It was as good as your going to see in a high school game.”