BATON ROUGE, La. — The No. 1 Pearl River baseball team dominated nearly every facet of the game in Friday's doubleheader sweep of Baton Rouge. Although the Wildcats went behind in both games, they came away with a 10-2 game-one victory and an 8-3 nightcap win.

PRCC's pitching staff combined to strike out 21 batters and allow just three earned runs in 16 innings. At the plate, PRCC tallied 18 total runs, 21 hits and eight extra-base hits. 

"I was really proud of our pitching staff today, especially because of the conditions," Pearl River coach Michael Avalon said. "The wind was blowing out to right, so it was a hitter's ballpark today. Offensively, we took our walks and our hit-by-pitches and came up with a hit to score them. I was proud of us for creating our offense with the opportunities that they gave us."

GAME ONE
Pearl River (15-3 overall) quickly got on the board in its first game of the day. Gabe Broadus (Wilmer, Ala.; Faith Academy) reached first base on an error by the Baton Rouge (7-17) third baseman. Broadus then swiped his 13th bag of the year to get into scoring position. Alex Perry (McComb; North Pike) drove him in with a single a few batters later.

The Bears almost matched the run in the bottom frame, but a punchout with a pair of runners in scoring position by Will Passeau (Mobile, Ala.; St. Paul's) kept them off the board.

BRCC made the Wildcats pay for issuing a walk in the bottom of the second, hitting a two-run homer for a 2-1 advantage.

The Wildcats turned in their best single-inning showing of the season in the fifth inning, tallying an incredible nine runs. A Perry double and walks by Logan Walters (Petal) and Hunter Sute (Tuscaloosa, Ala.; American Christian Academy) loaded up the bases for Ian Montz (Lafayette, La.; Acadiana). On the sixth pitch of his at-bat, the centerfielder laced a two-run double. Blake Hooks (Petal) walked and Blaise Breerwood (Poplarville) smacked a two-run double. The hit was his third of the contest. Following the trend of the batters before him, Marshall Phillips (Hattiesburg; Sumrall) also laced a two-run double. Phillips advanced to third on a wild pitch and with the help of an errant throw down to third base, he crossed home plate. A few batters later, Walters collected an RBI with a sacrifice fly and Preston Soper (Madison; Germantown) eventually scored on a passed ball. By the time the inning had ended, Pearl River had a 10-2 lead.

After a clean sixth inning of relief from Jordan Belsome (Poplarville), J.P. Lyon (Hattiesburg; Oak Grove) made his Wildcat debut In the seventh. The redshirt freshman made quick work of the Bears in the inning, working around a single to retire the side and end the game. 

LEADING THE WAY
Passeau earned the win in the game, pitching five innings and allowing two runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out six batters.

"Will set the tone early. I don't think he had his best stuff, but he pitched well overall," Avalon said. "That's what we need from him. We know that conference is coming up next Saturday and this was his warmup for that."

Breerwood and Phillips each had remarkable games at the plate, finishing 3-for-4 with two RBIs each. 

"Blaise got back going which was good to see," Avalon said. "It's just seemed like lately he's always hit it where people were. He's still played defense and played hard and when you do that, good things happen."

Perry had two hits in the game, drove in one run and score another. Montz finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

GAME TWO
The nightcap started with the Bears striking first. Sandwiched between a strikeout, the Bears picked up two singles to go ahead 1-0. After the run, Wildcat starter Conner Ware (Madison; Germantown) settled in and turned his start to pure dominance. The left-handed pitcher allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out eight batters over the next 3 2/3 innings.

"That kid has a lot of talent," Avalon said. "He's a guy that I really believe is going to help us down the stretch. His breaking ball was really good today and so was his changeup. He's a special talent and it's good to see him out there and commanding the zone."

The Wildcat bats put Ware in line for the win in the top of the second, taking a 3-1 lead. After the first two batters in the inning were retired, PRCC started a two-out rally. Breerwood was hit by a pitch and advanced to second base on a Parker Ryan (Madison; Jackson Academy) single. Jonah Katsaboulas (Pearl; Brandon) promptly brought them home with a two-run double into left field. One batter later, he came around to score on a Phillips single.

The Wildcats piled on four insurance runs an inning later. The scoring began with an RBI single by Perry and after a Walters walk, Montz took to the plate and crushed the first pitch thrown to him over the right field wall for a three-run homer, 7-1.

A wild pitch allowed the Bears to get a run back in the third, cutting their deficit to five runs, 7-2. It wasn't until the seventh inning that Pearl River added to its lead when Perry smacked his second home run of the season, 8-2. 

Baton Rouge capitalized on a Wildcat error in the eighth inning but that was all the Bears could muster as PRCC claimed the game 8-3 and the sweep.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Ware finished his day with four innings pitched. He allowed five hits, two runs, one of which was unearned, one walk and nine strikeouts. Ware wasn't the only Wildcat pitcher with some success on the day. Hooks came out of the bullpen to throw 2 2/3 innings without giving up a hit or a walk. He struck out three batters. Blake Gollott (D'Iberville) went 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and an unearned run. Landen Payne (Ocean Springs; St. Martin) closed out the ninth, finishing with a strikeout and one hit allowed.

Perry finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs. Ryan was the only other Wildcat with multiple hits, picking up two. 

NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to Dub Herring Park on Sunday for a three-way series against No. 5 Lansing and Baton Rouge. PRCC and Lansing faced off in the third round of the 2022 NJCAA World Series a year ago.

"We're excited to welcome Lansing and Baton Rouge," Avalon said. "We know Lansing is a quality program after seeing them at the World Series. We will finish up the day with Baton Rouge. We expect it to be a really good day of baseball at The Dub."

TICKETING
Season and single-game tickets for Pearl River baseball are available now and can be purchased at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets.