By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
They had hopes of ending the season with a bang. Instead it ended with more of a whimper for the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks baseball team Saturday when they concluded the campaign with a doubleheader loss at Faulkner State.
The Sun Chiefs completed a sweep of the five-game series with a 9-1 victory in game one and an 8-7 triumph in game two. The sweep enabled Faulkner State (20-10 in the Alabama Community College Conference and 32-20 overall) to tie Alabama Southern for the south division's third and final state tournament qualifying spot. Those teams met Tuesday at L.B. Wallace in a winner-take-all game for that postseason spot.
JDCC, which lost its final six games, took a brief 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of game one when David Washington reached on an error and scored on another error.
It quickly went downhill from there, as the Sun Chiefs scored twice in the bottom of the third inning to take the lead. Faulkner State ran that lead to 4-1 with two more runs in the third inning and 9-1 after a five-run fourth inning.
Former Warhawk Kyle McPherson threw a three-hitter for the win. Daniel Hodge, Bubba Mack and Steven Bingert all had one hit for the Warhawks..
JDCC starter Alex Granade took the loss, as he was touched for four runs in two plus innings.
Game two was a seesaw affair. The Warhawks fell behind 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning, but rallied to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth when Mack delivered a two-run single and Steven Bingert scored on a wild pitch.
Faulkner State regained the lead when it scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. The Sun Chiefs seemed to take control of the game after another three-run rally in the fifth ran the lead up to 7-3.
JDCC was able to peck away at its deficit. Brandon Sapp doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth that cut the gap to 7-4. The Warhawks tied the game in the top of the seventh when Bingert drilled a two-run triple and Sapp lined an RBI single.
Faulkner State plated the winning run in the bottom of the seventh off a walk, a passed ball and a throwing error against losing pitcher Jake Bonds.
Bingert and Sapp closed out the season with three-hit games to pace the Warhawks. Washington, Andrew Sawyer, Ryan Gray, Mack and Nathan Evans all had one.
JDCC ended its season 22-31 overall, 8-22 in the ACCC under the direction of first-year coach Darrell Blevins.
Game one
JDCC 100 000 0 – 1 3 1
Faulkner State 022 500 X – 9 8 3
Game two
JDCC 000 301 3 – 7 11 4
Faulkner State 100 330 1 – 8 8 1