TIFTON — A five-run fifth lifted Veterans Tuesday and helped spoil Tift County’s regular season baseball debut, 8-6.

The Warhawks took advantage of Blue Devils miscues, mixing those with timely hits to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 lead.

The news was not all bad for Tift, which got back-to-back homers in the second inning from Tyler VanSumeren and Landon Parrish. VanSumeren’s cleared the signboards in right field, where newly-painted distances indicate it sailed more than 330 feet.

Starting pitcher John Davis set down all six men he faced in order, striking out five.

After falling behind, the Devils nearly immediately erased Veterans’ lead. In the bottom of the fifth. Davis and VanSumeren reached on walks. Davis came around to score on a wild pitch and Drew Hembree delivered VanSumeren on an RBI single up the middle.

Veterans added on two runs in the sixth to go ahead 8-5. That almost slipped away from them in the seventh.

Hembree, used to creating two-out magic, did so again with a two-out walk. He stole second before Sam Pritchard earned a free pass. Will Pridgen singled over short to score Hembree and have the tying run on board, but Veterans was able to close out the game.

Tift’s other run came on a Parrish single in the third that drove in Davis.

Davis, VanSumeren, Parrish and Pridgen all had two hits. Parrish had two RBIs.

Pridgen fanned two in two innings of work. Forced into long relief, Jace Long struck out three and only allowed one earned run.

Tift is to travel to Lee County on Friday. The next home game is Saturday’s South Georgia Invitational. Ola will play Wilcox County and noon, then Tift at 3 p.m.