By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
Dothan Post 12 may have received a first-round bye for this week's district tournament by luck of draw, but it showed why it is deserving of that honor on the field Thursday when it swept a pair of games against Brewton Post 79 at Jefferson Davis Community College.
Dothan lashed out a combined 25 hits and scored 24 runs over the two games, as it notched a 12-3 win in game one and a 13-4 decision in game two.
Brewton's only lead on the day came in the first inning of the first game when Jake Bonds tripled and scored on a groundout by Baxley Raines.
Dothan's Alan Harvin, who was a sharp thorn in Post 79's side all day long, inflicted his first misery in the top of the second when he belted a two-run homer off Brewton pitcher and losing hurler Allen Williams. It was the first of five hits, two of which were homeruns, Harvin had on the day.
Dothan extended its lead to 4-1 in the top of the fifth when Brooks Glover hit an RBI double and A.J. Howard connected on an RBI single.
The biggest blow came in the top of the sixth when a five-run uprising stretched Dothan's lead to 9-1. The big blow was a two-run homer by Blake Cole.
Post 79 (5-20) got two of those runs back in the top of the bottom of the sixth when Damien Jackson reached on an error, Sean Little hit an RBI double and Jordan Ball delivered an RBI single that trimmed the gap to 9-3.
Dothan got those runs back plus one more in the top of the seventh.
Post 12 led game two from start to finish. Dothan took advantage of a couple of two-out errors to score a couple of runs in the top of the first inning against losing Brewton hurler Baxley Raines.
A seven-un third inning by the visitors stretched Dothan's lead to 9-0 and for all intent put the game out of reach. The key play came when Post 79 reliever Jonathan McNeil was greeted by a grand slam off the bat of Harvin.
Brewton got on the board with three runs in the bottom half of the fourth. A single by Clay Simpson and walks to Becker Denton and Dannon Lisenby set the stage for a run-scoring wild pitch and a two-run single by Jackson.
Dothan missed a chance to end the game on the 10-run rule in the fifth inning. A double, a pair of singles, a hit batsman and two errors led to four Dothan runs that stretched the lead up to 13-3.
Brewton kept the game alive in the bottom of the fifth. Ball doubled and Simpson singled him home, but Post 79 was unable to get any closer.
Brewton, which closed out its regular season Saturday with a home doubleheader against Demopolis, opens up district competition Thursday at Dothan where it faced Wiregrass in the opening round.
Game one
Dothan 020 025 3 - 12 16 2
Brewton 100 002 0 – 3 4 4
Game two
Dothan 207 040 0 – 13 8 0
Brewton 000 310 0 – 4 7 3