CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Sikeston Bulldogs had a tough time trying to handle the wind and the Notre Dame Bulldogs on Friday afternoon, as Notre Dame jacked three home runs on their way past Sikeston, 10-8.

Strikeouts also had an impact on Sikeston's performance. As a team, the Bulldogs whiffed 13 times.

"I thought that probably the biggest thing was that we had too many strikeouts," Sikeston head coach Kevin Self said. "We had runners in scoring position and we struck out. You have to put it in play on a day like this when it's windy. Even a pop-up."

Sikeston (5-5) had to play catch-up for most of the game, but they did manage to answer almost every Notre Dame (5-4) scoring run with an outburst of their own.

"We never did hit a ball real hard," Self said. "But, we had chances. They made some bad decisions defensively and gave us opportunities. When we did, we would get a hit and drive in a couple and that's why it was so close.

"They gave us opportunities and we took advantage of them. But, they put the ball in play a little bit better than we did today."

Notre Dame got the scoring underway in the bottom of the first inning as Austin Greer scorched a no-doubter over the left field wall to give his club a 3-0 lead.

Sikeston came right back and took the lead in the top of the second though. The starting pitcher, Matt Ritch, knocked a single with the bases loaded to get back one run. Two outs and three batters later, Josh Pierce hit a single to bring in another and Scott Droddy also singled but his brought in two runs to give Sikeston a 4-3 lead.

The game was eventually tied in the bottom of the third when Greer stole third on a passed ball and continued his way home when the ball went unnoticed by the red Bulldogs.

After Sikeston was held to one hit in their half of the fourth, Notre Dame piled on four more. Designated hitter Blake Gaddis sent a double to left field that scored two runs and then was later brought home by Mark Himmelberg, who hit a 2-run opposite field shot to right to give Notre Dame an 8-4 lead after four.

Cody Anderson put Sikeston right back in the game in the top of the fifth with a bases-clearing double to left field to again be down by only one run.

But, Notre Dame had one more big-fly in them that would come from their leadoff hitter, Jake Pewitt. After Ritch walked Gaddis in the bottom of the sixth inning, Sikeston decided to make the pitching change and sent in Droddy for some relief. Droddy's first batter was Pewitt.

Pewitt sent a 2-run homer over the left field wall to give the blue Bulldogs a 10-7 lead.

Two out of the three were helped by the wind, Notre Dame head coach Jeff Graviett said about the three home runs. "The thing I liked about them is that we hit all of them hard."

Second baseman Stephen Beydler had an impressive play to stop the rally in the sixth with a double play ball. Beydler dove to his right to snag a line drive off the bat of Dylan Drury, and then flipped the ball to second to end the inning.

Sikeston had one final gasp left in them in the top of the seventh after Anderson got on base after a walk. Anderson advanced to second on a wild pitch by the relief pitcher Colton Young. Ritch stepped up to the plate and connected for his third single of the game to score Anderson.

Young came back to get the next batter, Stan Ivie, with his third strikeout of the inning and complete the save.

Ritch picked up the loss for Sikeston. He threw 5 1/3 innings allowing nine runs on seven hits and only one walk. He also had four strikeouts.

"I thought he threw the ball extremely well," said Self. "Had we caught a couple pop-ups out there, he probably wouldn't have give up near as many runs. We had one that dropped in the triangle and ended up given up a couple runs, you got to catch those balls.

"I thought we played when we had to behind him, they just took advantage of some opportunities that we gave them.

The winning pitcher, Himmelberg, pitched six innings and allowed seven runs on eight hits and three walks. Himmelberg struck out 10 Sikeston batters.

"I thought we had some pitches to hit, and we just missed," Self said about Himmelberg's performance. "For whatever reason, wind or whatever, I don't know. But, we missed some pitches that we normally hit. He threw the fast ball by us a lot of times. That was kind of surprising."

Ritch was the leading hitter for Sikeston with three hits and two RBI. Droddy went 2-4 with two RBI and Pierce also went 2-4 but had one RBI.

The Sikeston Bulldogs will try and get back on track against the Charleston Bluejays on Tuesday at home.