By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

The Hawks suffered their first loss of the season with a dramatic ending last Sunday in a road game with Delise in Mississippi where the River Parish based team found themselves down by one run with two men in scoring position an no outs.

But Delise managed to work their way through the jam, taking advantage of an illegal bat that gave the Hawks their first out of the inning and took the 5-4 win by getting the last two batters to pop out.

&#8220It was a good game for both teams,” said Hawks head coach Peter Brown. &#8220It came right down to it in the ninth and we had a chance to tie it or win it. But they got us. They have a good team. Hopefully, we’ll get to see them again in the finals.”

Ancinso Estevez got his second start for the Hawks and went through five innings while giving up just one earned run. Estevez and relief pitcher Damon Ursin combined for 14 strikeouts on the day to hold the Delise batters in check.

But despite a good bit of offense, the Hawks just couldn’t pull this one out. Theron Anderson led his team in the effort, going 4-for-5 with an RBI while Rommel Anthony had an RBI to go with his two hits at the plate.

Rhondon Anderson also recorded to hits in the loss while Wes Loupe had a hit in his two at-bats.

It all came down to the top of the ninth with the Hawks down by one run. Theron Anderson singled to start it off and Rhondon Anderson did the same. Both made it into scoring position before the first out of the side was called after the umpire deemed the next batter’s bat to be illegal. That brought Rommell Anthony up, who Delise walked to load the bases. Randy Brown and Terry Charles came up next and popped out to finish the game off with the Hawks first loss of the season.

&#8220The players can’t be blamed for this one,” said Brown. &#8220This one is all on us coaches. The players did well and gave us the chance. It wasn’t them, it was us this time.”