Starting pitchers shine as JDCC wins two of three

Published 7:36 am Wednesday, February 11, 2004

By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
Two wins in their three contests over the weekend was certainly an acceptable performance for the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks baseball team and coach Jim Morrill.
At the same time, a pitch here or a play there and that 2-1 record could have easily resulted in a three-game sweep over visiting Hiwassee.
JDCC greeted the Tigers with a 7-2 triumph Saturday. Hiwassee used a seventh inning rally to snatch a 5-4 win away from JDCC in Sunday's first game of a doubleheader before the Warhawks rebounded with a 4-0 win in the nightcap.
"We certainly would have liked to have won all three games, but it was still a good weekend," Morrill said.
The performance by JDCC's three starting hurlers in those games gave Morrill reason to
See BASEBALL Page 7A
smile. The trio of John Ryan Steele, Raphael Kyles and Reiko Moyer allowed just five runs and 11 hits in 20 innings of work.
In Saturday's game (a scheduled nine-inning contest), Steele worked seven innings and surrendered two runs and three hits before Dustin Blakely finished things up with two hitless innings.
After Hiwassee plated a run in the top of the first inning, JDCC answered back with three tallies in the bottom half of the inning. The key hit was a two-run single by Chet McDonough.
Hiwassee trimmed that lead down to 3-2 with a run in the sixth inning, but the Warhawks came up with four key runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to open up the lead to 7-2. Chris Williams delivered an RBI single, while Charles Conklin came up with a two-run single.
In Sunday's opener, the Warhawks had a 4-2 lead until Hiwassee got one of those back in the sixth inning and the tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh inning.
Kyles started and into the seventh inning where the bullpen was unable to protect the lead.
Steven Walls had a pair of singles to pace JDCC, while Conklin picked up an RBI single and Kris Metcalf had a single.
Moyer, a freshman lefthander from Navarre (Fla.), turned in a dominanting complete game performance in Sunday's nightcap. Moyer struck out six and walked only one en route to his three-hitter. Moyer faced just two batters above the minimum.
JDCC gave Moyer all the run support he needed with a three-run first inning. Leon Brasington and Chris Good had RBI singles, while Williams drove in another run with a sacrifice fly.
The Warhawks made it 4-0 in the seocnd inning when Micah Leopard hit an RBI double, his second two-bagger of the game.
JDCC (3-2) will journey to Montgomery to play Jeff State today.
Saturday's game
Hiwassee 100 001 000 – 2 3 1
JDCC 300 000 04X – 7 7 2
Sunday's game one
Hiwassee 100 011 2 – 5 6 6
JDCC 021 010 0 – 4 4 3
Game two
Hiwassee 000 000 0 – 0 3 2
JDCC 310 000 X – 4 8 9

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