The hitting contests are out. The Jefferson baseball team will be taking some serious batting practice Thursday night in preparation for Friday's substate first round game against Kennedy.

Jefferson was held to three hits Wednesday night and was beaten by Davenport North, 5-4, in the J-Hawks' regular season finale at Jefferson.

Davenport North (21-16) scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to go ahead 5-3. Kyle Williams' two-out RBI single on a no-ball, two-strike pitch gave the Wildcats a 4-3 lead. The second run came across on the J-Hawks' third error of the game.

Jefferson (14-23) tallied once in the bottom of the seventh on doubles by Jake Schmidt and Tanner Unkel and had runners at first and second with two outs. But Bailey Hollingsworth, who had the J-Hawks' only other hit, took a called third strike to end the game.

Jefferson assistant coach Gordy Nordgren, filling in for a third-straight game as acting coach for Mike Kuba, said the J-Hawks were victims of "bad batting practice."  Rather than the usual batting practice, Nordgren had some fun with his team and held three contests - bunting, hit-and-run and home run hitting.

"Those are always fun, but we're not doing that again Thursday night," Nordgren said.

Kuba is scheduled to return in time to guide the J-Hawks for Friday's game. His daughter is playing in a national AAU basketball tournament and he has been with her.

Jefferson used four pitchers Wednesday night. Colten Jourdan worked 4 2/3 innings and he was followed to the hill by Chance Tiedtke, Jordan Dee and Eric Lehmkuhl. All four are juniors.

"Colten went a season-high in innings pitched, that was definitely a positive," Nordgren said. "Our pitching staff is pretty well rested for the tournament."

Both teams were bitten by the error bug. Davenport North had four that produced three unearned runs for the J-Hawks. Three of North's runs were earned.

Cooper Roehm's two-out RBI single in the Davenport North second inning gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

The J-Hawks tied the game, 1-1, in their third. Unkel reached on a fielding error by the North second baseman and stole second base, his 26th steal of the season. One out and a wild pitch later, Unkel scored on Alex Larson's ground out. Bailey Hollingsworth followed with a single that was Jefferson's first hit.

Jefferson pushed across two runs - without the benefit of a hit - in the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead. Sam Techau was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a groundout and scored when North shortstop Cooper Roehm booted Christian Knox's grounder. Knox stole second and went to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Unkel then hit a grounder that third baseman Eric Reynolds muffed for a run-scoring error.

After working out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fifth, the J-Hawks weren't quite as lucky in the sixth. An error, walk and passed ball put runners at second and third base for North. Pitcher Spencer Jones then delivered a two-run single to center that tied the game, 3-3.

DAVENPORT NORTH (5)
Kyle Williams, lf, 5 0 1 1, Spencer Jones, p, 3 0 1 2, Chris Connell, cr, 0 0 0 0, Trey Ogden, p, 1 0 0 0, Eric Reynolds, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Joey Wallace, c, 4 0 1 0, Cory Elam, cr, 0 0 0 0, Collin Belk, rf, 2 2 2 0, Chase Roehm, 1b, 3 1 0 0, Blain Samuelson, 2b, 4 1 0 0, Nate Durand, cf, 1 0 0 0, Cooper Roehm, ss, 3 1 1 1. Totals 29 5 6 4.

JEFFERSON (4)
Tanner Unkel, 2b, 4 1 1 1, Michael Rooney, cf, 2 0 0 0, A;ex Larson, ss, 4 0 0 1, Bailey Hollingsworth, dh, 4 0 1 0, Colten Jourdan, p, 0 0 0 0, Chance Tiedtke, p, 0 0 0 0, Jordan Dee, p, 0 0 0 0, Eric Lehmkuhl, p, 0 0 0 0, Drew Striegel, c, 3 0 0 0, Jordan McCormick, 1b, 2 0 0 0, Sam Techau, 3b, 1 1 0 0, Jake Schmidt, rf, 3 1 1 0, Christian Knox, lf, 3 1 0 0. Totals 26 4 3 2.

Davenport North   010 002 2 -  5 6 4
Jefferson             001 200 1 -  4 3 3

Jones, Ogden (6) and Wallace. Jourdan, Tiedtke (5), Dee (7), Lehmkuhl (7) and Striegel. W - Ogden (2-3). L - Dee (2-4). 2B - Wallace (11), Unkel (10), Schmidt (6). SB - Durand (4), Unkel (26), Rooney (14).