Asked what his team did better Thursday than it had earlier in the season, Jemison baseball coach Jason Easterling had an easy answer: “Everything.”

The Panthers swept a doubleheader from Isabella, 9-2 and 12-0, for their first two wins of the season after starting out losing eight straight.

“We pitched better, we hit better, and we played better defense,” Easterling said.

The better pitching was thanks to Jacob Chapman, who earned the win in the first game, and Nick Campbell, who held the hosts to four hits in seven innings in the second game while striking out four.

The better hitting came in the form of Jemison putting together big innings.

Isabella (3-7) was within striking distance, down 5-2, until the Panthers struck for four runs in the top of the seventh inning of Game 1.

An error allowed Patrick Sims to record an inside-the-park home run, sparking the rally.

In Game 2, much of the damage was done on three hits.

Chapman’s second-inning single scored Zak Kaylor and Jacob Bass, then Kaylor drove home Alex Campbell and Donny Eslinger with a hit in the third to make it 5-0, and finally, Scott Clements drilled a three-run home run to right-center field in the top of the seventh inning, scoring Bass and Chapman.

And then there was the defense, including a well-turned 6-4-3 double play—Cruz Martinez to Eslinger to Clements—in the bottom of the third inning.

“I think we may be turning the corner—if we’ll just keep it going, Easterling said.”