BOONEVILLE – No. 12 Jones rallied from a 5-2 deficit with eight unanswered runs to take the opener and
Dalton Rogers had a 12 strikeout performance spoiled in the nightcap in an extra-inning loss at No. 11 Northeast to split a Saturday doubleheader.
Jones moved to 14-10, 7-3 in the MACCC – just one game out of first place – while Northeast moved to 11-11 and 4-6 in league play.
The Bobcats will continue a season-long eight-game road swing on Tuesday at Southwest Mississippi.
Game 1 – Jones 10, Northeast 5
Kameron Partridge tied a season-high in innings pitched (7.0) and strikeouts (nine) and Jones rallied with eight runs over the last four innings to steal a Game 1 win.
A leadoff hit-by-pitch drawn by
Preston Ratliff got the wheels turning in the sixth. Ratliff would score on
Kade Keeton's sac fly to make it 5-3 and a throwing error allowed two more Bobcat runs to score to tie the game at 5-5.
Partridge retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth and Jones took its first and last lead in the seventh.
Murray Hutchinson walked, stole second and scored on an error to put the Cats in front 6-5. Jones would tack on three more in the inning thanks to an error, Keeton RBI-double and double steal from
Garrett Clendenning and Keeton.
Partridge (4-1) struck out the side in the seventh and
Zach Flaskamp tossed two scoreless with three strikeouts to close out the come-from-behind win.
Six Bobcats combined for the seven hits, with Ratliff going 2-for-4.
Jesse Johnson scored three times.
Game 2 – Northeast 5, Jones 4 (8 inn)
Rogers punched out a career-high 12 Tigers, including the side in the third and fourth, but homestanding Northeast was able to score two runs off
Garrett Langrell in the eighth to earn a split.
An RBI-single from Ratliff and squeeze bunt from Clendenning gave Jones an early 2-0 lead. Josh Basil's solo shot made it 2-1 after three.
Tied 2-2 in the sixth, the Bobcats took advantage of three walks in the inning and a Tiger error to plate the go-ahead run. The Tigers then tied it at 3-3 on Conner Davis' sac fly in the bottom of the frame.
Langrell stranded a Tiger runner at third base in the bottom of the seventh to force extras.
DeeJay Booth's RBI-single in the eighth then put the Bobcats on top, scoring
Murray Hutchinson after a walk and stolen base.
Northeast got a one-out triple from Davis to put the tying run on in the bottom of the eighth. He would score a batter later on an RBI-single from Jacob Compton to make it 4-4.
With
Cole Mozingo relieving Langrell with two on and one out, a passed ball allowed Northeast to walk it off for a 5-4 victory.