WESSON — The rivalry between the Co-Lin Wolves and theSouthwest Bears has always been competitive. But with the HeartChallenge Baseball Classic beginning Wednesday at Sullivan Field,it was intense. The Classic is sponsored by the CardiovascularInstitute of Mississippi.

The hard-hitting Bears took advantage of several errors by theWolves to swept the first doubleheader of the best-of-4 series.Southwest won the opener 4-3 in eight innings and knocked offCo-Lin 16-9 in the finale before a capacity crowd.

Throwing out the first pitch in the first game was CIMadministrator Michael Torn.

The Wolves have the chance to tie the series on April 22 atSouthwest when they play another doubleheader. The winner gets tokeep the trophy for one year.

The Bears improved to 21-3 on the season and 3-0. The Wolvesfall to 17-12 and 2-4 in the South.

“It was two hard-fought games,” said Southwest assistant coachPete Young following the games. “They were pretty clean games. Iwas proud of our guys. We played pretty good.” The Bears arecoached by Butch Holmes.

Co-Lin finished the game with a total of 11 errors, 4 in thefirst game and 7 in the finale. Southwest had 5 errors, 2 in thefirst and 3 in the second.

“Southwest is very athletic,” said Co-Lin head coach Keith Caseafter the games. “I was impressed with their ball club. We didn’tplay very good defense. We didn’t give ourselves a chance towin.”

Southwest 4, Co-Lin 3

With the game tied 3-all in the top of the eighth, Neilsen Chaoled off Southwest with a single and moved to second on Jesse Boyd’ssacrifice bunt. Brandon Pearce singled. Stephen Bryant drilled ahard single to score Chao for the go-head and eventual game winningrun.

In the bottom of the fifth, Co-Lin’s Josh Logan scored the tyingrun that made the score 3-3 until the eighth inning.

Southwest led 2-0 in the first. Co-Lin cut the deficit to 2-1 inthe third. The Wolves scored another run on a solo home run bycatcher Matthew Schexnayder in the fourth, trimming the Bears leadto 3-2. In the fifth, Co-Lin tied the game 3-all.

Chao (2-0) was the winning pitcher, working the final twoinnings. Starting was Jeremy Wallace, followed by Paul Faulkenberryin the fifth and Michael Hay in the sixth.

Reliever Derek Thompson (3-3) absorbed the loss, working theeighth inning. Starting was Brandon Chretien for four inningfollowed by Nick Gunter in the sixth.

Singling for the Wolves were Logan, Joel Hurt, Xavier Qualls andDane Orders.

Chao powered the Bears at the plate with a double and twosingles. Pat Barnes had 2 singles. Dyson doubled. Lindsey Lang hittwo singles and a double.

Southwest 16, Co-Lin 9

Co-Lin found itself in a hole in the top of first inning and wasunable to dig its self out. Southwest scored four runs in the firstwith help of three Co-Lin errors.

In the bottom of the first, the Wolves cut the deficit to 4-1when Josh Logan scored from third base on a wild throw.

Southwest came back in the top of the second for four more runsand pushed its lead to 8-1, collecting eight hits over twoinnings.

Both teams scored three runs each in the fourth as the Bearsincreased their lead to 11-4 over the Wolves.

In the bottom of the fifth, Co-Lin exploded for five runs,trimming the Southwest lead to 11-9. The Wolves collected five hitsand that would be the last time the hosts would score. They lefttwo runners on base.

“We were one hit away,” stated Case of turning the game theirway. “We had a little momentum going our way.”

Southwest came back in the top of the sixth with two runs andadded three more in the seventh for the 16-9 win. Co-Lin committedthree errors in the final inning.

Chao (3-0) got the win in the second game as well, working thefinal three innings with 2 runs allowed on 4 hits, 2 strikeouts andno walks. Starting was Matt Sessions with 3 strikeouts, 5 walks and2 hits allowed in three innings. Following were Lucas King in thethird inning and Matthew Hay in the fourth inning.

Matthew Tubbs (2-1) was the losing hurler in two innings with 5runs allowed on 6 hits, 3 strikeouts, no walk and one hit batter.Will Buckels worked until the sixth with 4 strikeouts, 1 walk and 8runs allowed on 7 hits. James Landry worked the remainder of thegame.

Leading the Wolves with two singles each were Ryan Hoben, RyanWilliams, Hurt and Logan. Hitting safely were Schexnayder, Qualls,Todd Siders and Orders. Hurt hit three singles. Qualls two singles.Williams 2 singles. Hoben two singles. Order singled. Siderssingled. Schexnayder singled Josh Logan singled.

For the Bears, Lindsey Lang homered and double. Michael Lewisdouble and hit two singles. Barnes singled three times. Jesse Boyddoubled and singled. Singling were Brandon Pearce, Stephen BryantBrandon Pearce, Chao and Field.

“Southwest was aggressive with the bats,” added Case. “Southwesthas put themselves in good position (in the South Division). Wehave a must win sweep Saturday against Jones County.”