Every so often, an 0-2 hole has its benefits.

Davenport Central's Cody Lambert found that out Monday evening, and unfortunately, so did North Scott's Greg Daniels.

Lambert fouled off a pair of sacrifice bunt chances with the game on the line but came through with a walk-off home run. The blast not only gave the Blue Devils a 2-1 win in the doubleheader opener, but it also ended Daniels' no-hit bid.

Central kept the extra-base hits coming in Game 2, which it ran away with,

19-9 in five innings.

But the true drama came from Lambert's showdown with Daniels.

After Colin Cartee reached base on an error to lead off the bottom of the seventh in the first game, Central coach Jay Ryan instructed Lambert to lay down a sac bunt. But Daniels, who had dominated the Devils until that point induced a pair of foul balls.

Then, Lambert had no choice but to swing away on a hanging fastball. The result was the first home run of his high school career.

"I'm not sure what happened," Lambert said. "I swang at it, and it went further than I thought.

"I've been working on my mental approach. If I think too much, I don't do well."

He didn't have time to process the fact that Daniels had no-hit Central through six innings, striking out 11 in the process.

But Daniels didn't get that third pitch out of the zone, and the Devils didn't blink through the second game. Central (11-4, 6-4 Mississippi Athletic Conference) scored eight runs in the bottom of the first before recording an out, but North Scott wasn't done.

The Lancers (8-11, 5-5) pulled within 11-9 midway through the third, but the Devils kept the runs coming.

"We talked a lot between games about putting up a big number in the second game," Ryan said. "Then we closed it out in the fourth."

Jake Lafrenz and Aaron Wailand each homered for Central in Game 2 and combined for 11 RBIs.

What left North Scott coach Blake Hanna most frustrated afterward wasn't so much that his team allowed Central to score seven times in the fourth inning of the nightcap. His big concern was the lack of production in Game 1.

"(Daniels) is a stud out there," Hanna said. "He's on the mound beating anybody, but we gotta get some runs for him.

"That first one was a devastating loss for us."

Nick Bakeris picked up the win for Central in the opener, striking out eight and yielding just three hits.