It was a pitching duel at Paul A. Moyer Field Friday night, asD’Iberville and Brookhaven played the second game of abest-of-three series in the opening round of the South State 4Aplayoffs. Behind the strength of southpaw Zac Toney, theD’Iberville Warriors defeated the Brookhaven Panthers 1-0, thussweeping the series 2-0.

D’Iberville improves to 23-11 overall, while Brookhavenconcludes its season at 20-13.

D’Iberville 1, Brookhaven 0

Toney (6-3), a southpaw, went the distance (7 innings); allowingno runs on 2 hits to pick up the win. He walked 2 and fanned 8Brookhaven batters.

“Both pitchers battled hard tonight,” said Warrior skipper WayneWhitehead. “It was a good defensive ballgame.”

Panther senior Cole Newell would suffer the loss for head coachRandy Spring. He tossed 7 innings, giving up 1 unearned run on 4hits. Newell walked 2 and struck out 7.

D’Iberville got the only run of the game in the top half of thefourth inning. With 1 out, catcher Jarrod Connette reached on aPanther fielding error. Shortstop Clayton Seymour singled, movingConnette to second. Designated hitter Sean Saucier grounded into afielder’s choice that scored Connette.

In the sixth, Ole Brook had an opportunity to get on thescoreboard. With no outs, rightfielder Paxton King reached on aWarrior throwing error. Catcher Mitch Pappas singled. Both runnerswould advance to third and second respectively on the throw-in.

Toney went to work. He struck out Panther shortstop Bud Britt.Newell would pop up to Connette for the second out. Toney ended thethreat by striking out first baseman Taylor Newman to end theinning. Britt’s double in the first was the only other hit for thePanthers.

“Toney did a good job, battling back to get out of the inning,”Coach Whitehead said. “That inning was the difference in thegame.”

Spring echoed Whitehead’s comments following the defeat.

“The sixth was the difference in the game,” said Spring. “If wescore, it may have been a different result. Hats off toD’Iberville. They have a good team.”

For the Warriors, Dillan Owens singled and doubled. Toneysingled.

Brookhaven loses 6 seniors to graduation: Pappas, Newell, TaylorNewman, R.J. Jenkins, Josh Coone and Elliot Warren played theirlast game in a Panther uniform. This senior class won 91 games intheir tenure, including a district championship and a state titlein 2004.

Coone and Pappas signed scholarships with Co-Lin.

Spring recognized these veterans in their final post-gamemeeting.

“You seniors did a lot in your tenure at BHS,” said an emotionalSpring in addressing his ballclub for the final time this season.”You will be truly missed.”