The Douglas Bulldogs kicked off the 2008 baseball season Thursday stranding nine men on base in a 5-3 loss to the Pueblo Warriors at Copper King Stadium.

Bruce Whetten / The Daily Dispatch Bulldog baseball coach Gilbert Rojas tends to an injured Kyle Cormier while concerned father Ken Cormier looks on in Douglas’ season opener with Pueblo Thursday. Cormier, Douglas’ starting pitcher, was hit in the head on the play which broke his batting helmet. He left the game, was stitched up and returned in the fifth inning to go 1 for 2 from the plate.

"We had our chances," Douglas’ baseball coach Gilbert Rojas said. "It was the little things that cost us the ball game."

Pueblo used a two run, two out double off Douglas’ starting pitcher Kyle Cormier to take a 2-0 lead over the Dogs in the top half of the first.

In the bottom half of the inning Bulldog fans suffered a major scare when Cormier was hit in the head while batting. The hit was so severe it cracked the side of Cormier’s batting helmet. The Bulldog laid on the ground several minutes bleeding from the left side of his eye while coach Rojas, Kyle’s dad Ken and DHS trainer Mitch Nelson tended to him. Cormier would later walk off the field under his own power, get stitched up in the trainer’s room and return to play the bottom half of the fifth plus the sixth and seventh innings.

After Cormier was knocked out of the game Nick Flores came in to pitch and went two-innings, giving up two runs off three hits while fanning two and walking one. He would get the loss Thursday.

In the bottom half of the second the Bulldogs tied the game at 2-2 when Zaul Tapia hit a two-run double that scored Jerry Altamirano and George Hurtado. The Bulldogs would end the inning with Tapia left at second base

Pueblo tagged Flores for a two run home run in the top of the third taking a 4-2 lead.

The Bulldogs would cut the lead to 4-3 in the fifth when Alexis Aguirre scored on a Fabian Ochoa base hit.

Pueblo would regain its two run cushion with a run in the top of the seventh scoring on a passed ball for a 5-3 lead.

Cormier would get credit for one inning on the hill giving up one run off two hits while fanning three and walking one.

Adrian Romo followed Flores on the hill throwing the fourth and fifth innings and giving up no runs off no hits while fanning three.

Jesus Lopez would pitch the sixth and seventh innings and give up one run off two hits while fanning three and walking two.

Douglas had four hits in the game. Tapia was 1 for 4 with two RBI’s, Cormier 1 for 2, Ochoa 1 for 1 and Hurtado 1 for 3.

Rojas said after the game his team had its chances especially in the fifth and seventh innings to either tie the game or take the lead but his team failed to get the hit it needed when the game was on the line.

The coach added his team was a little tight the first inning and Pueblo capitalized but he was pleased with how his players responded and didn’t quit when Cormier went down.

"I was hoping it was nothing serious," the coach said of Cormier’s injury. "I was concerned at the start especially when I saw the blood above his eye."

The coach said the fact Cormier was cleared by the trainer to return to the game was a good sign.

"I was pleased with our pitching staff," the coach said. "They did their job. We just didn’t help them at the plate."

The Bulldogs, 0-1, will now take on Flowing Wells next Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Tucson in the first round of the Cactus Classic.