Strong pitching performances and a lot of “small ball” helped the Southwest Bears to take 5-3 and 6-4 MACJC South Division wins over visiting Hinds Friday afternoon.

The wins lift the Bears’ record to 12-18 on the season. They are now 3-7 in the South. The Eagles fell to 11-17, 2-8.

Southwest took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener. Brandon Austin led off with a single to left field. Four batters later, with two outs, Collin Carroll singled past shortstop to send Austin to the plate. A throwing error on the play allowed Marvin Van Buren to scamper home for the second run.

The score went to 5-0 in the bottom of the second as the Bears sent seven men to the plate. Patric Devlin led off with a single up the middle and later scored on the back end of a double steal. Andrew Hulbert, who had also reached on a single, scored on a one-out error by the Hinds pitcher and Austin, on via a walk, later scored on a Kade Scivicque ground out.

The Eagles picked up their first run in the top of the third when Montana McDaniel led off with a double and later scored from third on a balk. They added the final runs of the game in the seventh inning when McDaniel blasted a Dylan Gregoire pitch over the left field wall. Scoring ahead of McDaniel was Kyle Washington.

Following the homer, Scivicque took to the mound in relief, retiring the only batter he faced, to pick up the save.

In a very strong performance overall, Gregoire gave up five hits and three runs in 6.2 innings in recording the win. He struck out six while walking only one. Anthony Durr, Logan Ferrell and Scivicque also recorded a base hit in the game.

An Austin single and Scivicque double put the Bears up 1-0 in the first inning of the nightcap. Hinds knotted the game at 1-1 in the top of the second when Connor Goodspeed singled to open the frame and later scored on a ground out by Jake Weathersby.

Southwest then sent 10 men to the plate in the bottom of the inning and scored five runs to take a 6-1 lead. Devlin led off with a single past second base and later scored on an Austin base hit. A Scivicque base hit sent Zach Jones to the plate. After Austin scored on a one-out passed ball, bases-loaded walks to Carroll and Durr forced two more runs across the plate.

Three hits, a walk and a Southwest error allowed the Eagles to send three runners to the plate in the top of the fourth to make the score 6-4. But, with the tying runs on base, starter Kyle Crifasi got a strikeout and fly out to end the inning.

Hinds put the tying runs on base with two outs in the top of the sixth inning against reliever Colton Lee. The Bears then called on Scivicque again and he again did as he was asked by inducing Brian Mills to fly out to center field to end the threat.

The Eagles made one more attempt at securing a victory in the top of the seventh, putting runners on first and second with two outs. But, a Scivicque strikeout of McDaniel ended the game and gave the Bears their third win in a row.

Crifasi gave up six hits and four runs, three earned, in four innings on the mound in picking up the win. He struck out three batters while walking two. Lee gave up two this and walked two in 1.2 innings of work.

Scivicque went 1.1 innings, allowing two hits and striking out one, to pick up his fourth save of the year. He also had three hits in the game. Carroll, Ferrell and Zach Jones also had hits in the game.

At the end of the day, Scivicque said, “We’re finally catching some breaks. Things are going in our favor and we’re playing to our potential. Hopefully, it’ll (the sweep) will put us on a roll.”

Game one winner Gregoire echoed his teammate. “I feel like the two wins were a testament to our team’s not giving up. We had a couple of rough spots (during) the season,” he said, “but, I feel like things are turning around for us.”

Southwest returns to action on April 3 when they travel to Poplarville to face Pearl River in a 3:00 doubleheader.