By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
Often in baseball the toughest outs for a team to get are the last three.
It was Bishop State's last three outs in the top of the ninth inning that turned a potential series victory for the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks baseball team into a series setback, as the visiting Wildcats rallied for a 9-7 victory to claim two of three games over the weekend in the Alabama Community College Conference clash.
JDCC (9-7 overall and 4-2 in the ACCC) began the series with a dominant 13-3, eight-inning win in Saturday's opener for its fourth straight victory to start the conference season. Bishop State salvaged a split of the twinbill when it rallied for a 7-6 win in game two.
The Warhawks fought back from a 6-3 deficit in the series finale to take a 7-6 lead into the top of the ninth.
JDCC tied the game in the bottom of the fifth on Jeremy White's two-run single and Kyle Snedeker's RBI single. An RBI single by Ryan Kelley in the bottom of the eighth inning gave JDCC the 7-6 lead.
It got away from the Warhawks in the top of the ninth when reliever Adam Reed issued a leadoff walk and a one-out walk. Bishop State's Kailen Williams then muscled up for a two-run triple that gave the Wildcats an 8-7 lead, an advantage they would not relinquish.
Kelley had three hits and an RBI to lead JDCC at the plate, while Ryan Gray also had three hits. Daniel Hodge and Andrew Sawyer both provided two hits.
The Warhawks lashed out 14 hits in Saturday's opener.
JDCC snapped a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the third when it erupted for five runs. Ben Green and Kenny McDonald both had key RBI singles to fuel the uprising.
The Warhawks put up another five spot on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh inning when they entered the frame with a 7-3 lead. Three Bishop State errors contributed to most of the rally, but the Warhawks got some key production at the plate. David Stokes had the biggest blow of the frame, a double. Gray added an RBI single.
Green racked up four hits and an RBI to lead JDCC, while Gray had a pair of hits and drove in two runs. Stokes and Sawyer both added a pair of singles.
Tim Horne went the first five and two-thirds innings to get the win. Horne allowed three runs and scattered nine hits, but a big key was he did not issue any walks.
Both teams had comebacks in game two. JDCC took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Green's RBI groundout and Jeremy White's RBI single.
Bishop State got those two runs back in the top of the second inning to tie the game and took a 6-2 lead in the top of the third with four additional runs.
JDCC trimmed that lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the third. A single by Kelley and a double by Gray set up an RBI single by White, an RBI groundout by Hodge and an RBI single by McDonald.
Sawyer drove home J.J. Cutler with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth that tied the game at 6-6.
The Wildcats scored the go-ahead and winning run in the top of the sixth with a walk, a fielder's choice and three wild pitches.
White had three hits and two RBI to lead JDCC at the plate, while McDonald had a pair of hits and one RBI. Sawyer and Gray each had a pair of hits. Robby Carlson, the third of four Warhawk pitchers, took the loss.
JDCC, which hosted Marion Military Institute Tuesday in a non-conference doubleheader, swings back into ACCC action Friday when it hosts Southern Union for a nine-inning game at 1 p.m. The teams conclude the series Saturday at Brewton with a 12 noon doubleheader.
Saturday's game one
Bishop St. 001 002 00 – 3 13 3
JDCC 015 001 5 1 - 13 14 4
Game two
Bishop State 024 001 0 - 7 11 0
JDCC 203 010 0 - 6 112
Sunday's game
Bishop St. 003 300 003 - 9 7 2
JDCC 102 030 010 - 7 13 1