Facing a win and advance or lose and end the season scenario Monday afternoon against the University School of Jackson, the DHS Trojan baseball team ran into the right arm of University of Tennessee signee Clayton Gant and some timely hitting by the Bruins, ultimately falling in the Region 7 opener, 7-1.

Gant turned in a stellar performance for the Bruins, throwing seven complete innings, fanning seven Trojan batters while scattering a mere four hits against the explosive Dyersburg lineup.

"(Clayton) Gant was on his game and unfortunately we just never were able to get anything going against him," said a disappointed Dyersburg head coach Tom Mathis afterwards. "The kids battled and the effort was tremendous today, but the bottom line is we just didn't get the job done."

After Gant sat the first three batters in the lineup down on 11 pitches in the top of the first, the Bruins looked to make some noise in their half of the inning.

With Dyersburg's Matt Chandler getting the starting nod from Mathis, the senior faced a tough situation going against a potent USJ lineup, but the right-hander accepted the challenge the way he has every other opponent the last half of the season, by going right at the Bruins.

After giving up a lead off walk to Danny Grimm, Gant looked to help his own cause by stroking a stand up, RBI-double to deep center field for an early 1-0 advantage. The lone run was all the Bruins would get in the first thanks to a fine defensive play from Scotty Rogers.

With the bases loaded and one out, Chandler fanned Benji Fesmire for the second out of the inning to being Kyle Bryan to the plate. Joey Wilder fielded a grounder to third, and though the throw to first pulled Rogers off the bag, a slap tag ended the threat, leaving three stranded.

While the play seemed to ignite the Trojans, Gant quickly put out the fire by sending Dyersburg down in order on eight pitches in the top of the second, mixing several pitches to keep the Trojan squad off balance.

In the bottom half of the inning, USJ added to its total when John Wills ripped a 2-RBI single up the middle for a 3-0 cushion, chasing Chandler in favor of left-hander Ryan Wood. The junior had been a pleasant surprise for the Trojans this spring, and threw well against the Bruins after giving up a 2-RBI rope up the middle from Hunter Smith as the Bruins increased the lead to 7-0 at the end of three complete.

Gant continued to flirt with a no-hitter until the top of the fourth when Michael Brown ended the draught with a deep shot to center for a double. With two outs and Brown still at second, Matt Chandler singled to put two aboard. Unfortunately for the Trojans, Gant struck out Adam Smith to end the inning, leaving the two runners stranded.

Dyersburg's lone run of the day came in the sixth. Jesse McNeil led off the inning with a double to left field. Three batters later with two outs, Tyler Childress singled to score a hustling Zane Mathis (running for McNeil) to avoid the shutout.

In the end however, at least on Monday, USJ was the better team, ending the Trojan season with the 7-1 victory.

"We knew coming in that we couldn't make any mistakes and expect to win. We made a couple of mistakes but I'll say this, the guys came out and played hard from the first inning until the last and as a coach that is about all you can ask for," added am emotional Mathis. "I'm proud of what this senior group has done over the last four years and these guys are really going to be missed."

With the loss, the Trojans end the season with an overall record of 27-12.