The better Damian Rivera pitched, the better his fielders seemed to play. Both were nearly flawless as the Brazos Valley Bombers claimed a much-needed 6-1 victory over the Acadiana Cane Cutters in Texas Collegiate play Friday night at Brazos Valley Bank Ballpark.

Rivera (5-0) allowed only three hits in eight innings, striking out three and walking one. The 200-pound left-hander from St. Louis University threw only 80 pitches. He retired 14 straight batters until Thomas Simoneaux singled with two outs in the eighth. That was Acadiana's lone hit to the outfield.

A bunt single by Taylor Dugas to start the fourth inning led to Acadiana's only run thanks to a sacrifice bunt, groundout and uncharacteristic wild pitch by Rivera.

"I had my control going from the get-go," said Rivera who was 3-1 with a 3.11 earned run average for the Billikens in his freshman season. "They swung at a lot of tough pitches, so I got a lot of quick outs. I really had my fastball-slider combination working."

That led to 14 ground-ball outs. Graceful shortstop Scott Arthur fielded four grounders and was part of a double play to end the second inning started by Rivera, who didn't know he even had snared the one-hopper.

"It was a surprise," Rivera said. "I do that all the time, [and] normally it just passes right by. [But] I played good defense for myself. That's probably the best I've played defensively."

Rivera had three other assists, but the defensive play of the game was second baseman Brennyn Smith diving behind the bag to grab a grounder, then bouncing up to throw out the runner for the game's final out.

"That was the biggest part of the game today: Our defense made plays," Rivera said. "And when they made a few errors we pounced on [it]."

The Bombers took a 1-0 lead in the first on two Acadiana errors. BV broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth with more help. Casey Dykes singled and reached third when Acadiana catcher Grant Dozar threw the ball away on Matt Milligan's sacrifice bunt. Dykes scored on a passed ball and Milligan came home on Smith's sacrifice fly.

The Bombers' hitters provided three more runs in the eighth, which started with singles by Trey Porras, Jacob House and Dykes.

The Bombers had scored only one run in back-to-back losses at East Texas coming off the all-star break. The Bombers had nine hits Wednesday night, but ET scored twice in the bottom of the ninth for a 2-1 victory. ET followed with a 2-0 victory Thursday, limiting the Bombers to three hits.

"The approaches offensively were a heck of a lot better than they've been the last two nights," Bombers coach Brent Alumbaugh said. "We took advantage of opportunities when we had a chance, which is not something we've been doing the last couple of nights."

Dykes had three of the Bombers' eight hits with Arthur adding two.

The Bombers (6-7 in the second half, 21-21 overall) pulled within a game of the Victoria Generals (7-6, 19-23) and the Coppell Copperheads (7-6, 23-20) as those three are battling for two playoff spots to join in the postseason the East Texas Pump Jacks (11-2, 30-12) and Cane Cutters (5-8, 20-20), who earned the first-half playoff spots.

Rivera, the only 5-0 pitcher in the TCL, was the main reason the Bombers ended a three-game losing streak, but said he didn't feel any added pressure.

"I just wanted to do my job the way I do every week," Rivera said. "[I know] our hitters are going to come around. We've got a good ballclub, so we should be able to bounce back and finish strong."

The Bombers in the first half recovered from a 1-8 start to be in position to earn a playoff spot, but lost their last two games to Acadiana, which is in its first season in the six-team, wooden-bat league.

The Bombers will conclude a two-game set with Acadiana at 7 p.m. Saturday. The home stand will continue Monday and Tuesday against Victoria.

NOTES -- The game lasted only 2 hours, 3 minutes. ... Dozar was thrown out of the game in the eighth for arguing after Cane Cutter relief pitcher Jordan McCoy was called for a balk with the bases loaded. Dozar had been called out on strikes in the sixth. ... The Bombers' lone error was by third baseman Dykes, who made a diving grab, but dropped the baseball as he straightened up to throw. ... The Bombers will give away bobbleheads of their mascot, Kaboom, to Saturday's early arriving fans. Youth also will be admitted free and receive free food. Tickets start at just $5. For more information, go to www.bvbombers.com.

Acadiana 000 100 000 -- 1 4 4

BV Bombers 100 200 03x -- 6 8 1

Caleb Manuel, Jordan McCoy (8) and Grant Dozar, Jacob Derouen (8). Damian Rivera, Logan Burch (9) and John Cannon. W -- Rivera, 5-0. L -- Manuel, 2-2. Leading hitters -- (BV) Casey Dykes 3-4; Scott Arthur 2-4.