RAYMOND – For the 12th straight season, the Jones College baseball team has qualified for postseason play.
The 24-18 Bobcats finished sixth in the MACCC regular season standings and will travel to take on fifth-seeded Hinds in a Region 23 Best-of-3 series this weekend.
Game 1 will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Joe G. Moss Field on the Hinds campus in Raymond. Game 2 will be at 1 p.m. Saturday with a third game, if necessary, to follow afterwards.
Fans are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. Also, pets are not allowed at the ballpark.
COVID-19 canceled the 2020 season. This year, MACCC teams played a conference only slate.
Jones and Hinds split four games this season. On Feb. 24 at Hinds, Jones lost to the Eagles 11-4 and won 15-0 in five innings. On April 13 at Community Bank Park, Jones won 4-1 and lost 7-5.
Leading the way on the mound for the Bobcats has been
Dalton Rogers (Northwest Rankin). The tough luck lefthander has posted a 3-4 record, but owns a 3.16 earned run average. In 57.0 innings pitched, he has allowed only 35 hits, struck out 91 and walked 31. Rogers has committed to Southern Miss.
Out of the bullpen,
Garrett Langrell (Bay) has been lights out. In 17 relief appearances, he is 4-2 with five saves and leads the team with a 2.10 ERA. In 34.1 innings, he has allowed 27 hits, struck out 42 and walked 10. Langrell has committed to Eastern Kentucky.
Kameron Partridge (West Lauderdale) and
Wyatt Blalock (Madison Central) are both 5-2, while
Zach Flaskamp (Southeast Lauderdale) is 3-2.
The Bobcats have a 4.07 team ERA, which ranks second in the MACCC and 12th nationally.
Offensively,
Preston Ratliff (Slidell, Louisiana) tops the team in batting average (.371), home runs (seven) and RBIs (42).
DeeJay Booth (Oak Grove) has been solid at the plate (.353 batting average, five home runs and 31 RBIs.) Leadoff batter
Murray Hutchinson (Madison Central) has been successful at setting the table (.338 BA) and leads the team in runs scored (52) and stolen bases (30).
Jones owns a .291 team batting average.
Other playoff series this weekend will feature No. 9 seed Copiah-Lincoln (19-21) at No. 2 seed Meridian (28-11), No. 8 seed Mississippi Gulf Coast (20-18) at No. 3 seed Itawamba (23-13) and No. 7 seed Northwest (24-15) at No. 4 seed East Central (25-15).
Pearl River won the regular season title and will not have to play a playoff series. The Wildcats will host the Region 23 Tournament May 17-22 in Poplarville. PRCC, LSU Eunice and the four playoff series winners will comprise the field for the regional tournament.
