By By BRUCE HIXON
Sports Editor
Like a good boxer who can withstand punches early in a match, Jimbo Bunch was able to hang around long enough to find his groove and carry the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks baseball team to a 5-0 victory over visiting Wallace-Hanceville in Sunday's second game of a twinbill at JDCC.
The win enabled the Warhawks (5-1) to earn a split after they suffered their first loss of the season in the opener when they fell 5-4.
Bunch, a freshman righthander from Pensacola (Fla.), escaped trouble in each of the first three innings when he stranded seven Wallace-Hanceville runners. That included six over the second and third innings when the visitors stranded the bases loaded in both frames.
Bunch found his groove with one out in the top of the third inning after Wallace-Hanceville had loaded the bases. Bunch got out of that jam with an infield popup and an infield groundout. It was the start of a string of 10 straight batters the righthander retired on his way to a complete game six-hitter.
"Jimbo did a nice job of battling until he settled down. That is a very good team he beat. Wallace-Hanceville should be one of the top teams in the north division of our conference," JDCC coach Jim Morrill said.
The Warhawks gave Bunch all the support he needed in the bottom of the third inning when a double by Chris Good and a single by Brett Burkett preceded a run-scoring wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Kyle McPherson.
JDCC doubled its lead to 4-0 in the fifth inning when Burkett walked and McPherson singled ahead of a sacrifice fly by Carl Gibbs and an RBI single by Clay Mather. R.J. Thompson accounted for the final cushion with a solo homer in the sixth inning.
In the opener, the Warhawks were unable to overcome a 5-0 deficit Wallace-Hanceville built with a pair of first inning runs and three additional fourth inning markers.
JDCC, which left nine runners on base, got three of those runs back in the bottom half of the fourth inning on RBI singles by Rusty Harris and Mather ahead of an RBI double by Brian Hannah.
Burkett brought the Warhawks within a run with a solo homer in the fifth inning.
Starting pitcher Jason Moore suffered the loss for JDCC, as he went the first six innings. Moore, who allowed six hits and struck out five, was hurt by a couple of key errors.
"We had some physical, aggressive mistakes. I can live with that. We came out a little sluggish, which I attribute a lot to a six-day layoff," Morrill said.
The Warhawks are back in action today when they host Faulkner in a 12 p.m. twinbill. JDCC then travels to Pensacola Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest.
First game
Wallace-Hance. 200 300 0 – 5 8 1
JDCC 000 310 0 – 4 9 2
Second game
Wallace-Hance. 000 000 0 – 0 6 1
JDCC 002 021 X – 5 8 1