POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The No. 3 Pearl River baseball team hosted archrival Jones College on Tuesday night at Dub Herring Park. The Wildcats lit it up in game one with an 11-1 run-rule victory. Jones College snatched game two 6-5 in nine innings.
With the game one victory, the Wildcats hit the 40-win mark for a second consecutive season.
GAME ONE
Luke Lyon (Hattiesburg; Oak Grove) made quick work of Jones College (31-14 overall; 16-9 MACCC) to start the afternoon, forcing two flyouts to left field followed by a groundout to second base.
The Wildcats (40-9; 19-6) got the scoring started in the bottom of the second with a four-spot. Hunter Sute (Tuscaloosa, Ala.; American Christian Academy) laced an RBI single right back up the middle to bring home Triston Hickman (Wiggins; Stone County). Blaise Breerwood (Poplarville) kept the rally going when he drove an RBI double into the left center field. With two runners in scoring position, Preston Soper (Madison; Germantown) chopped a slow hit ball for an infield RBI single. The Bobcat shortstop attempted to make the out at first but instead threw the ball away, resulting in a second run, 4-0.
Jones cut its deficit to one run, 4-1, in the top of the third inning. PRCC immediately responded with two runs of its own. The Wildcats got a runner into scoring position and forced a Jones College pitching change. Ian Montz (Lafayette, La.; Acadiana) welcomed the new pitcher into the game by smacking a two-run double off the right field wall, 6-1.
Facing a 0-1 count in the bottom of the fourth inning, Hickman demolished a pitch at the bottom of the zone over the left field wall for a two-run homer. Just three pitches later, Montz made it back-to-back homers by crushing a solo homer over straight away center field, 9-1.
The long ball came into play again for the Wildcats in the sixth inning as Logan Walters (Petal) mashed his ninth home run of the 2023 campaign, 10-1.
The Wildcats walked off with a run-rule victory in the bottom of the eighth inning. Will Passeau (Mobile, Ala.; St. Paul's) led off with a single and advanced on a groundout. Alex Perry (McComb; North Pike) ended things by lacing a single into right field, 11-1.
Lyon was electric over seven innings, scattering four hits, two walks and one earned run. He struck out eight batters. JT Schnoor (Pascagoula; Resurrection) threw an inning, working around a hit and a walk.
Hickman was remarkable at the plate, finishing 3-for-4 with two RBIs, two doubles and a homer. He scored three runs. Passeau, Soper, Walters and Montz all finished with two hits each. Montz collected three RBIs.
GAME TWO
A solid first inning on the mound for Cooper Cooksey (Waveland; Bay) sent the Wildcats to the plate in the bottom half of the frame. Passeau led off the frame with a double off the right center field wall and moved to third on a fly out. Perry brought him home after reaching on an error and eventually scored on a single off the bat of Hickman, 2-0.
After two scoreless innings, Jones College capitalized on a pair of Wildcat mistakes in the top of the fourth to move ahead 4-2.
Passeau came up clutch for PRCC in the bottom half of the fourth. With runners on the corners, the Wildcat right fielder sent the first pitch thrown deep over the center field wall for a three-run homer and the lead, 5-4.
Jones College tied up the contest in the fifth on an RBI single, 5-5.
Both teams went scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings before the game was suspended due to technical issues prior to the start of the eighth inning.
When play resumed Wednesday afternoon, Landen Payne (Ocean Springs; St. Martin) took the ball for the Wildcats. The sophomore struck out the first two batters that he faced before a runner reached on an error. The right-hander then induced a ground ball to get out of the inning.
Jones took the lead in the top of the ninth on an RBI double, 6-5. In the bottom half of the inning, Soper drove a single into left field to begin the frame. The next batter, Perry, looked to have a single into center field but the Jones second baseman dashed up the middle, dove, gloved the ball and flipped to the shortstop for the first out. The Bobcat shortstop then fired to first to finish off the double play. The momentum switch helped the Bobcats claim a 6-5 victory.
CASHLESS BOX OFFICE
To help improve traffic flow and fan experience, PRCC athletics box offices are cashless in 2022-23. Only credit and debit cards will be accepted at the box office. Fans are encouraged to beat the lines and purchase their tickets in advance.
TUNE IN
Pearl River livestreams all home games for free at PRCCMedia.com. Fans who have Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel from their app stores.
Games can also be heard at WRJW 1320-AM, 106.9 FM and WRJWRadio.com.
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