ELLISVILLE –
DeeJay Booth (Oak Grove) homered twice and
Brady Spring's (Brookhaven Academy) RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted No. 12 Jones College to an 8-7 win over Itawamba here Saturday evening at Community Bank Park.
ICC used a six-run fifth inning and held off the Bobcats 7-6 in game one.
Jones, 8-8 overall and 1-1 in the MACCC, goes to Meridian for a 3 p.m. doubleheader on March 2. They return home to face Mississippi Delta at 2 p.m. on March 6.
Itawamba, 5-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference, hosts Mississippi Delta on March 2.
Game 1, Itawamba 7, Jones 6
Jones took a 2-0 lead in the first and Booth's home run to lead off the bottom of the third made it 3-0.
Hunter French's (DeSoto Central) RBI single in the fourth made it 4-0.
But the Indians roared back in the fifth, sending 10 batters to the plate. ICC had five singles, a double and a hit batsman in the inning.
Hayden Harris led off the sixth with a double and later scored on a wild pitch to give ICC a 7-4 lead.
Jones made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth.
Preston Ratliff (Slidell, Louisiana) led off with his third home run of the year to make it 7-5.
Spring was hit by a pitch and
Garrett Clendenning (Biloxi) entered for him as a pinch runner. After a strikeout,
Jesse Johnson (Purvis) singled. Both runners would advance a base on a wild pitch and Clendenning would score on
Colson Harris' (West Jones) ground out.
Johnson advanced to third with the tying run, but was stranded there when a groundout ended the game.
Jones had 15 base hits in the game, but hit into three double plays and stranded 11 runners.
Booth and Ratliff each homered and singled twice and French had three singles.
Starter
Kameron Partridge (West Lauderdale) went four-plus innings and was tagged with the loss, dropping him to 2-1 on the year. He allowed six runs, seven hits, walked none and struck out four.
Kade Keeton (Brandon) pitched 2.0 innings and
Garrett Langrell (Bay) tossed 3.0 innings of hitless relief.
Hayden Harris had a double and two singles to pace the Indians.Terris Meeks added two singles.
Starter Will Armisted went five-plus innings and got the win. He gave up four runs, 11 runs, walked one and struck out three. He is now 1-0. Reliever David Rowland pitched the final 4.0 innings and got his first save. He allowed two runs, four hits, walked two and struck out three.
Game 2, Jones 8, Itawamba 7 (9 inn)
Entering the bottom of the ninth with the game knotted at 7-7, Johnson led off with a. single to right.
Tyler Ducksworth's (South Jones) ground out to the pitcher advanced Johnson to second.
Spring then singled to left on a 1-2 pitch and Johnson made it all the way home to give the Bobcats the victory.
Jones set the tone quickly in the bottom of the first.
Murray Hutchinson (Madison Central) led off with a single and Booth promptly followed with a two-run blast over the right-field wall.
After ICC put up four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead, the Bobcats bounced back.
Chase Honeycutt (DeSoto Central), French and Hutchinson each had back-to-back-to-back one-out singles to load the bases.
Booth then hit the first pitch he saw over the right-field wall for a grand slam to give the Bobcats a 6-4 lead. Jones would add another run in the inning to go up 7-4.
But the Indians responded in the top of the fifth with a two-out, three-run rally to tie the game at 7-7.
Booth homered twice and had six RBIs. He now has a team-leading five home runs on the season, which is third best in NJCAA Division II. He ended the day with three home runs and seven RBIs.
Hutchinson, Johnson, Ducksworth and French each had two singles.
Wyatt Blalock (Madison Central) went the final 3.1 innings and got victory, upping his record to 2-2. He allowed no runs, no hits, walked two and struck out five. Starter
Dalton Rogers (Northwest Rankin) went 4.2 innings, giving up five earned runs, five hits, two walks and notched three strikeouts.
Zach Flaskamp (Southeast Lauderdale) allowed no runs, two hits and struck out two in an inning of middle relief.
Tyler Murphy doubled and singled and Riley Davis singled twice for the Indians.
Drew Managhan went the final 2.0 innings and was tagged with the loss. He is now 0-1. He gave up a run on three hits and walked one.
