POPLARVILLE, Miss. — It was a day full of fireworks for the No. 2 Pearl River baseball team at Dub Herring Park. The Wildcats walked off No. 13 South Arkansas 5-4 in game one and followed it with a dominant 12-1 run-rule victory in the nightcap to complete a sweep.
"We saw some quality arms today, and we scored 16 runs in 16 innings — that's what kind of players we have. That's what we're capable of doing," head coach Michael Avalon said. "These tough opponents will make us better down the stretch. I was proud of how we battled in the first game and then how we finished them off in game two.
"South Arkansas had so many different looks that they gave us tonight on the mound. They always get stronger as they go along and that team will definitely compete to go to Enid."
GAME ONE
South Arkansas (1-4 overall) threatened early, putting its first runner in scoring position with a leadoff double, but Pearl River's (6-1) Logan Fontenelle (Biloxi) responded by striking out the next three batters to end the inning.
Ethan Garner (Gulfport) wasted no time rewarding his pitcher in the bottom half, launching the first pitch he saw over the right-field wall for a leadoff 380-foot home run and a 1-0 lead. The advantage was short-lived, however, as the first batter of the second inning homered to even the score.
The Stars pushed ahead in the third and added another run in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead. Pearl River answered in the bottom of the fifth. Jackson Beddoe (Sulphur, La.) ripped a double down the left-field line and scored when Jackson Hood (Madison; Germantown) lined a single back up the middle, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Both teams traded runs again in the sixth. South Arkansas opened the frame with a leadoff home run, but the Wildcats answered in the bottom half. With the bases loaded, Gatlin Pitts (Daphne, Ala.; Bayside Academy) lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 4-3.
Pearl River continued to battle and evened the score in the late innings. Landon Hawkins (Sumrall) singled, Pitts doubled, Garner was intentionally walked and Hood drew a bases-loaded walk to knot the game at 4-4.
The heroics came in the bottom of the ninth. Kyler King (Picayune) singled and stole second to move into scoring position. A few batters later, PRCC's nine-hole hitter Beddoe managed to get the bat on an outside pitch and hook it off the left-field wall for a walk-off double, sealing a 5-4 victory.
"I fouled a couple pitches off, and I knew I'd get the outside pitch," Beddoe said. "I stayed back enough to get the barrel through and help our team win."
Fontenelle tossed 3 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out seven. Colin Jenkins (Mt. Olive; Simpson Academy) followed with 2 2/3 innings, surrendering two runs on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Dalton Graham (Conehatta; Newton County) worked a clean inning, allowing one hit and one walk. Landon Watts (Picayune) earned the win, throwing two scoreless innings with two strikeouts for his second victory of the season.
Beddoe was PRCC's lone multi-hit performer, going 2-for-4. Hood drove in two runs.
GAME TWO
Drew Harrison (Madison; Germantown) set the tone in game two, retiring the side in order in the top of the first. The Wildcats backed him immediately in the bottom half. Garner singled and Hood walked before Chap Cook (Canton; Canton Academy) crushed an opposite-field, 364-foot, three-run home run to give Pearl River a 3-0 lead.
"I had been getting pitched low and away all day," Cook said. "I was expecting something firm on the outer half of the plate. I just put a good swing on the ball."
The scoring continued as Coy Clements (Hattiesburg; Oak Grove) and Jackson Estes (Madison; Germantown) singled, and Beddoe (Sulphur, La.) brought home Clements with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 5-0.
Harrison continued to impress in the second, third and fourth innings, working out of trouble when necessary to keep South Arkansas off the scoreboard.
Pearl River broke the game open with a six-run fourth inning to take firm control. The Wildcats went station to station to start the frame as Cook, Clements and Estes each singled. One Wildcat was retired before Abel Thetford (Bossier Parish, La.; Parkway) made the most of his first start of the season, knocking a two-run single. Pitts and Bryce Duszak (Appleton, Wis.; Menasha) followed with RBI singles, and Hood capped the inning with a two-run double off the glove of a leaping South Arkansas left fielder to push the advantage to 11-0.
South Arkansas scored its only run of the afternoon in the fifth inning, turning a walk into an RBI single. Pearl River immediately answered in the bottom half. Estes drove a ball off the wall that allowed him to cruise around the bases for a triple. The throw skipped into the dugout, allowing him to cross the plate and make it 12-1.
Pearl River turned the game over to Gabe Hodges (Flowood; Northwest Rankin) and Trace McDonald (Sandy Hook; West Marion) over the final two innings to close out the contest and secure the run-rule victory.
Harrison earned his first win of the season after tossing four scoreless innings. The right-hander scattered two hits and two walks while striking out four. Nico Williams (Gulfport) worked one inning in relief, allowing one run on one hit and two walks. Hodges tossed a clean inning with one hit allowed and one strikeout, and McDonald walked one and struck out one in his lone inning of work.
Estes led the Wildcats at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance and a triple. Cook finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a home run, while Clements went 2-for-3 with a walk.
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to action Tuesday with a 1 p.m. contest at Coastal Alabama – South.
For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on X (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).
