A rocky fourth inning in the field and a number of missed opportunities at the plate were enough to do in Jim Ned in a 9-5 loss to Holliday on Thursday in Game 1 of a best-of-three Region I-3A area-round series at Abilene Christian High School.

Trailing 7-0 after the Eagles broke open a close game with a five-run fourth, the Indians rallied for four runs in the home half of that inning and another in the sixth to pull within two at 7-5. But that was as close as coach Mario Estrada’s team would get due in large part to leaving nine runners on base and having another thrown out at the plate.

With the loss, the Indians (25-6) will now have to take a pair from Holliday (30-4) when the series resumes at 5 p.m. Friday at Iowa Park.