After playing some of their best baseball for the past week and a half, the Jefferson J-Hawks took a step backward Friday night in the nightcap of its doubleheader against Dubuque Hempstead.

Hempstead won the opener, 6-5, then scored eight unearned runs and took the nightcap, 11-3.

The losses snapped Jefferson's modest three-game winning streak, which was its longest of the season. The losses were the J-Hawks' sixth in their last 10 games. Five have been by one run.

"Errors came back to nip us again," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said. "It gave them outs and created big innings. We just can't be doing that this time of the year.

"You just can't give a good team outs and that's what we did. Teams are going to hit the ball."

Hempstead (18-15, 12-10) banged out 28 hits in the doubleheader.

Jefferson (9-20, 7-15) broke out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning in the opener. Michael Rooney and Alex Larson belted back-to-back home runs and Bailey Hollingsworth had an RBI single.

Hempstead tied the game with three runs in the third inning. Sean Fitzgerald, who had four of Hempstead's 17 hits in the opener, plated the first run with an infield single. Two more scored on back-to-back RBI singles by Cody Leach and Brad Duwe.

The J-Hawks reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth, 4-3, on Jake Schmidt's RBI single.

But the Mustangs came back with three runs in the top of the fifth to gain their first lead, 6-4. Aaron Collins, who had three hits, singled home one run, and another scored on the play when Hollingsworth's throw from right fielder Hollingsworth to catcher Striegel bounced to the backstop after Striegel's glove was ripped off by baserunner Pete Kelleher scoring the first run. Striegel strode after Kelleher as he jogged to the bench and left the plate unguarded, allowing Nick Johnson to score the second run.

Kuba pleaded with plate umpire Randy Christensen for an interference call on Kelleher, but Christensen told him in a voice loud enough for the crowd to hear that he didn't see the play and, thus, could not call interference.

Jake Bortscheller followed with an RBI double that tacked on a necessary insurance run.

The J-Hawks added a run in the bottom of the sixth on Tanner Unkel's RBI single and had the bases loaded with one out. Larson hit a flyball to medium center field and Schmidt, running at third base, was late to tag up and unable to score. Jordan McCormick flied out to right to end the inning.

Bortscheller, making his first start for the Mustangs during an injury-plagued junior campaign, retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh, fanning the first two batters and getting the last on a soft liner back to the mound.

While Bortscheller scattered nine hits and struck out eight, Nick Barker limited the J-Hawks to five hits, struck out two, got eight outs via pop ups and 10 more groundouts.

Hempstead was playing its fourth doubleheader in five days. After dropping a pair to Prairie on Monday, the Mustangs split with Davenport Central on Tuesday and No.8 Xavier on Wednesday before sweeping the J-Hawks.

Hempstead Coach Jeff Rapp said he thought pitching was going to be his team's strength before the season.

"It just hasn't really come together until this week," Rapp said. "Some guys are opening my eyes.

"We know this is the time of the year that you want to get hot."

The first game loss led to a second game collapse for the J-Hawks.

"It's always tough bouncing back after a tough one like that," Larson said. "You try to flush it, but it always happens to linger there for a while."

"We came out flat, flatter than we should have," Unkel said. "We should have shook up the bats and made the routine plays. Obviously, nights like this happen, where you're just not all there mentally.

"Words can't explain how bad that was tonight. We just need to battle like we have been and play better than we did tonight."

Hempstead scored three runs in the second inning and five runs in the fourth to take an 8-0 lead. Six of the runs were unearned, thanks to three Jefferson errors. An error opened the door in the third inning. The runs scored on an RBI single, bases-loaded walk and fielder's choice.

The Mustangs got five runs in the fourth despite managing only three hits. Nick Stevenson doubled in the only earned run.

Jefferson scored three runs in the fifth to pull within 8-3. Schmidt doubled home the first run and Sam Techau and Unkel had RBI singles.

But Hempstead came right back with three runs in the sixth. Leach hit a one-out solo home run, another scored when right fielder Hollingsworth dropped a fly that would have been the third out and the third scored on Collins' RBI double that Hollingsworth dove for and missed.

Jefferson hosts Kennedy on Monday at 2 p.m. and then plays at Kennedy on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Both dates are sophomore/varsity doubleheaders.

"We got one game Monday and that's where we have to shift our focus," Kuba said.

"It will be fun," said Larson, who transferred to Jefferson from Kennedy for his final season. "I'm excited."

Game 1

HEMPSTEAD (6)
Sean Fitzgerald, ss, 5 1 4 1, Kyle Weist, 3b, 4 0 1 0, Adam Kennedy, rf, 4 1 2 0, Cody Leach, 1b, 3 0 1 1, Brad Duwe, cf, 4 0 1 1, Chad Crabill, c, 4 0 1 0, Pete Kelleher, cr, 0 1 0 0, Nick Johnson, lf, 4 1 1 0, Aaron Collins, dh, 4 1 3 1, Nick Stevenson, 2b, 0 0 0 0, Andrew Seymour, pr, 0 1 0 0, Jake Bortscheller, p, 4 0 3 1, Mitch Brimeyer, cr, 0 0 0 0. Totals 36 6 17 5.

JEFFERSON (5)
Tanner Unkel, 2b, 4 0 1 1, Michael Rooney, cf-p, 3 1 1 1, Dylan Jellison, cr, 0 0 0 0, Alex Larson, ss, 3 1 1 1, Jordan McCormick, 1b, 4 0 0 0, Drew Striegel, c, 3 0 1 0, Aaron Gruwell, cr, 0 1 0 0, Bailey Hollingsworth, rf, 4 1 2 1, Jordan Dee, p, 2 0 0 0, Austin Goodell, lf, 2 1 1 0, Jake Schmidt, dh, 3 0 2 1, Christian Knox, lf-cf, 0 0 0 0, Sam Techau, 3b, 1 0 0 0. Totals 29 5 9 5.

Hempstead  003 030 0  -  6  17  1
Jefferson     300 101 0  -  5   9  3

Bortscheller and Crabill. Dee, Rooney (6) and Striegel. W - Bortscheller. L - Dee. 2B - Fitzgerald, Kennedy, Collins, Bortscheller 2, Striegel, Hollingsworth. HR - Rooney, Larson. SB - Unkel.

Game 2

HEMPSTEAD (11)

Fitzgerald, ss, Graham Houselog cr-ph, 1 1 1 0, Weist, 3b, 4 1 0 1, Ben George, ph, 1 0 0 0, Kennedy, rf, 2 1 1 2, Kyle Vanderlee, ph, 1 0 0 0, Leach, 1b, 4 1 1 1, Nate Cooksley, 1b,1 0 1 0, Duwe, cf, 4 2 3 1, Connor Stewart, ph-cf, 1 0 0 0, Johnson, lf, 1 3 0 0, Andrew Seymour, lf,0 0 0 0, Collins, dh,4 0 1 1, Nick Barker, p, 0 0 0 0, Kelleher, c, 3 0 2 1, Steve Coohey, c, 0 0 0 0, Nick Stevenson, 2b, 3 1 1 2. Totals 33 11 11 10.

JEFFERSON (3)

Unkel, 2b, 3 0 1 1, Rooney, cf, 3 0 0 0, Larson, ss, 3 0 0 0, McCormick, 1b-p, 3 0 1 0, Jellison, cr, 0 0 0 0, Striegel, dh 2 1 0 0, Colten Jourdan, c, 0 0 0 0, Hollingsworth, rf, 3 0 0 0, Chance Tiedtke, p, 1 0 0 0, Goodell, p, 0 0 0 0, Schmidt, p, 1 1 1 1, Dee, 1b, 1 0 0 0, Techau, 3b, 2 1 1 1, Knox lf, 3 0 1 0. Totals 25 3 5 3.

Hempstead  030 503 0 -  11  11  0
Jefferson     000 030 0 -   3    5  4

Barker and Kelleher, Coohey (6). Tiedtke, Goodell (4), Schmidt (4), McCormick (6) and Jourdan. W - Barker. L - Tiedtke. 2B - Duwe, Collins, Stevenson, Schmidt, Knox. HR - Kennedy. SB - Duwe, Unkel, Striegel.