In their last home game, the Jemison baseball seniors on Thursday did something they had never done before in their high school careers: they beat area foe Bibb County.

“I’ve been here for four years as coach and one year as an assistant, and this is the first time we’ve beat Bibb County,” Jemison coach Jason Easterling said.

Even with the 7-6 win over the state’s No. 2 team in Class 4A, the Panthers (12-14) needed help to earn a playoff berth. Jemison needed Holt to beat Calera in a game also played on Thursday.

The outcome of that contest couldn’t be determined at press time.

The seniors—Jacob Chapman, Donny Eslinger and Patrick Sims—owe at least some of the credit from Thursday’s win to a pair of sophomores.

Starting pitcher Alex Campbell held the visitors to only one run through the first five innings and closed the door late when the Choctaws (23-7) rallied from a 7-1 deficit.

Jackson Mims, meanwhile, blasted two long solo home runs, one in the bottom of the first inning and one in the fifth inning.

The second of those four baggers stretched the Jemison lead as large as it would get, but Bibb answered with a three-run home run by Josh Gunter in the top of the sixth inning.

Bibb County scored two more runs in the seventh and got the game tying run to third base and the go-ahead run to first base, but Campbell induced a ground ball to shortstop Cruz Martinez, who flipped to Eslinger at second for the force out to end the game.