Through three complete innings, things were good for the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawk baseball team in their season opener Tuesday at home against the Pensacola State Pirates.
JDCC led the Pirates 4-1 and had seven hits with one being a double from Brandon Blackwelder and another a two-run homerun from Andrew Tindell.
From there, things went downhill for the Warhawks as they started the season 0-1 after an 11-4 loss.
In the next six innings, JDCC was held to no runs and only four hits while Pensacola State pounded out 11 hits and scored 10 unanswered runs to defeat the Warhawks by seven. Pensacola had a two-run homerun in the fifth inning that gave them a 5-4 lead and added a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning to turn a 7-4 lead into an 11-4 lead and take all the air out of a possible comeback for the Warhawks.
Despite the loss, JDCC head coach Darrell Blevins was excited about the play of his team in their first game of the season.
“Obviously we came out with a lot of excitement,” Blevins said. “The score is kind of lopsided but you take away their two homeruns, especially that grand slam, I think that we are OK. I am very proud of (starting pitcher) Michael Yarborough for stepping out there. That was his first official college game and he did a really good job.”
Blevins said he was also excited about his team’s hitting in their first game.
“For us to come out on day one and put up 11 hits, I am excited about that,” he said. “The two errors we have on defense…one was a throw-catch error at first on a pickoff and the other was in the outfield. So as far as defense, that is our goal. We want to make as few errors as we can. I thought we ran the bases well. You have to give Pensacola State credit to now. In the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, they were making every play and got a few breaks on defense that possibly stopped us from having an inning that we could have possibly scored in. So all in all, I am excited. We will come back to work on Wednesday and get on the bus and play at Marion on Thursday.”
JDCC led Pensacola 1-0 after one inning and 2-0 after two innings. In the top of the third inning, Pensacola cut the Warhawk lead to 2-1 before Andrew Tindell connected for a two-run homerun over the leftfield fence to give the Warhawks a 4-1 lead.
From there, Pensacola added two runs each in the next three innings to grab a 7-4 lead before adding four in the top of the final inning to put the game away.
Tindell led JDCC at the plate with a 3-for-4 day including a homerun and two RBIs. Blackwelder was 1-for-4 with a double and Jordan Creel was 2-for-4.
Stuart Todd went 2-for-4 with one RBI and Dustin Bickmeyer was 1-for-4.
Brandon Ray also went 1-for-4 while Kyle Freeman was 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Yarborough started the day on the mound for JDCC and went three innings and allowed three hits, one earned run, walked one and struck out two.
Tyler Howell went one inning allowing two hits, two earned runs, walked none and struck out one.
Tyler Moore followed Howell and took the loss on the mound as he went two innings allowing four hits, four earned runs, no walks, and struck out one.
Joey Hedden went one inning allowing one hit and struck out one while Corey Thompson went 1 2/3 innings allowing two hits, four earned runs and struck out four while surrendering no walks.
Jeremy Barnes went the final 1/3 of an inning and walked one.
JDCC was scheduled to play at Marion Military Institute Thursday in a nine inning game and will return home Saturday to play Lawson State in a nine and seven inning doubleheader.
Game time is set for 11 a.m. Saturday morning at Warhawk Field on the campus of Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton.