No. 2 Pearl River to host No. 5 East Central in Super Regional

No. 2 Pearl River to host No. 5 East Central in Super Regional

POPLARVILLE, Miss. — A marquee matchup will take place this week at Dub Herring Park as No. 2 Pearl River hosts No. 5 East Central in the NJCAA Region 23 Super Regional.

The best-of-three series has been shifted back one day and will now run May 15-17. The Thursday and Friday night games will begin at 5 p.m., and Saturday's game, if necessary, will begin at 2 p.m. The series winner earns an automatic berth into the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Oklahoma, May 24-31.

The meeting will be the first postseason matchup between the teams since 2019, when PRCC won a best-of-three in three games. When the teams met during conference play in 2025, East Central took the opener 10-0 and Pearl River grabbed the nightcap 11-1.

TICKETS
Tickets are available now at PRCCAthletics.com/tickets and are $15 each day. Pearl River box offices are CASHLESS, and fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance.

ABOUT PEARL RIVER
The Wildcats enter the series with an overall record of 48-7 and fresh off a dominant showing in the Poplarville Regional. The Wildcats opened things with a 4-2 win over Meridian before run-ruling No. 19 Gulf Coast 10-1 in seven innings and capping off the 3-0 week with a 17-2 five-inning victory over Northeast.

The Wildcats are led at the plate by team captain Caston Thompson (Jayess; Brookhaven Academy), who leads the team in batting average (.377), homers (13), walks (39), slugging percentage (.678) and is tied for the team lead in doubles (16). Thompson ranks second on the team in RBIs with 59. Topher Jones (Hernando) is PRCC's second-leading hitter with a .364 batting average. The Mississippi State transfer has come on strong as the season has progressed, and now has a team-high 64 RBIs. He's hit 14 doubles, nine homers and two triples. Among those with at least 90 at-bats, Pearl River has six additional players hitting over .300, including Ethan Garner (Gulfport), Keegan Giger (Petal), Jackson Hood (Madison; Germantown), Jacob Keys (Brandon), Jaxon Milam (Phenix City, Ala.; Glenwood Academy) and Logan Terry (Semmes, Ala.; East Central). Hood has hit 11 homers and Keys has hit 10.

PRCC is even more dominant on the mound. The Wildcats are peppered throughout the national leaderboards in numerous categories. PRCC is first in ERA (2.49), first in earned runs (114), first in WHIP (1.09), third in strikeouts (517) and third in K/9 (11.87). KK Clark (Brandon) leads PRCC's team in team-highs in innings pitched (74), ERA (1.70), WHIP (.95), strikeouts (100) and K/9 (12.16). Jacob Johnson (Carriere; Pearl River Central) trails him narrowly with a 1.81 ERA and .96 WHIP. Johnson leads the team in wins with 11. 

Camden Clark (Laurel; West Jones), Max Miller (Vancleave), Patrick Spencer Jr. (Greenville; Washington School) and Caleb Dyess (Carriere; Pearl River Central) have all made starts this season for the Wildcats. Their ERAs are 2.63, 2.28, 3.23 and 2.92, respectively.

Drew Harrison (Madison; Germantown) has been PRCC's most lights-out arm out of the bullpen, throwing 27 innings and having an incredible 0.67 ERA. He has struck out 37 and walked just seven. Carson Fair (Southaven) has tallied eight saves for PRCC, tying the single-season record. The Memphis signee has thrown 20 innings and tallied 28 strikeouts.

ABOUT EAST CENTRAL
East Central is 41-12 on the year and was the 2-seed in the Region 23 Tournament. The Warriors went 3-0 in the Decatur Regional, defeating Holmes 8-5 to open things before taking down Copiah-Lincoln 10-0 and 13-9 to finish it off.

ECCC is hitting .297 as a team this season and is led at the plate by sophomore Barret Rodgers, who is hitting .375 with 10 doubles, seven homers and 52 RBIs. Pablo Roque is second on the team in average at .367. He has driven in 48 runs and tallied 14 doubles, seven homers and one triple. Jayden Adcox, Nic Arender, and Eli Smith are each hitting over .300 on the season.

East Central also has one of the top pitching staffs in the country, sitting sixth nationally with a team ERA of 3.57. Bryson Goff is the ace of the Warrior pitching staff. The left-hander has tossed 71 2/3 innings, holding a 2.64 ERA. He has struck out 65 batters and walked 36. Chris Billingsley trails him with 63 innings pitched and a 3.14 ERA. The right-hander has struck out 81 against 37 walks. Marbin Lezcano has flipped between the rotation and the bullpen and has a 3.64 ERA across 59 1/3 innings this season. He has struck out 72 batters.

TUNE IN
All three games will be livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/Gold. Fans with Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel from their app stores.

Games will also be available over the air in Pearl River County by tuning into 1320-AM and 106.9 FM. The radio broadcast is also available at WRJWRadio.com and by downloading the WRJW app.

For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on X (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).