By Cort Reynolds
ADA - The host Ada baseball team ran out to a big early lead and held off rival Bluffton 13-10 in the Northwest Conference opener on a cool, windy Thursday evening.
The Bulldogs improved to 4-3 and 1-0 in the NWC with the league victory, while the Pirates fell to 1-5 and 0-1 with the loss.
Bluffton was the home team even though the game was switched to the Ada park diamond.
The purple and gold scored three first inning runs, then added six more scores in the second frame to build a big 9-0 early lead.
Bluffton scratched back with two runs in each of the second and third frames to pull within 10-4.