POPLARVILLE – Jones College rallied from 4-0 and 7-4 deficits and defeated Northwest 9-7 here Tuesday afternoon in an elimination game in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.
The Bobcats (32-16) will now face No. 4 LSU Eunice in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Dub Herring Park on the campus of Pearl River. LSU Eunice beat East Mississippi 10-0 in five innings on Tuesday night. In a winner's bracket game, No. 1 Pearl River whipped No. 16 Hinds 13-3 in five innings.
In other games on Wednesday, East Mississippi meets Hinds in an elimination game at noon. The winner of that game plays Pearl River at 7 p.m.
The Bobcats outhit Northwest 15-9 and only left eight runners on base, compared to leaving 13 runners on base in an 8-4 loss to East Mississippi on Monday.
Northwest took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Wesley Lester drove in a run with an infield hit, Tyler Byrd had a sacrifice fly to right, Hunter Cramer had an RBI single and Dawson Griffin's sac fly to right plated another run.
The Bobcats cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth.
Colson Harris (West Jones) and
Josh Cary (Petal) reached on singles and with two outs,
Billy Garrity (Sumrall) drove in both runners with a single to right.
The Rangers went up 5-2 in the sixth when Peeko Townsend led off the inning with a home run over the right field wall.
Jones closed the gap to 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth. Harris led off with a single and
Drew Williamson (Vancleave) got an infield hit. Garrity reached on a fielder's choice which scored Harris and pinch-hitter
Andrew Jones (Brandon) came through with a two-out single to center to drive in Garrity.
Northwest increased the lead to 7-4 in the seventh when Ryan Lee was hit by a pitch and Lester hit a two-run home run to center.
The Bobcats took the lead for the first time in the bottom of the seventh.
DeeJay Booth (Oak Grove) led off with a double to left-center and
Tyler Ducksworth (South Jones) followed with a single. Harris drove in Booth with a sac fly to right.
With two outs, Williamson then singled to right and the throw back to the infield hit Williamson in the helmet, which allowed Ducksworth to score all the way from first base to make it 7-6.
Garrity followed with a ground-rule double to right to put runners on second and third.
Jakob Wax (Prairieville, Louisiana) then delivered a two-run single to left to put Jones ahead, 8-7.
Jones added an insurance run in the eighth.
Murray Hutchinson (Madison Central) led off with an infield hit and advanced to second on an error. He went to third on Booth's groundout and Ducksworth drove him home with a sac fly.
Kace Matthews (West Jones) pitched the final 2.0 innings and got his first save. He allowed two hits and struck out three.
Luke Lycette (Northwest Rankin) pitched 0.2 innings and got the win to improve to 2-2. He allowed a run, a hit and had a strikeout. Starter
Andrew Nix (Stringer) pitched 3.1 innings, allowed four runs, four hits, walked two and struck out two.
Peyton Bell (Mobile, Alabama) pitched 3.0 innings, giving up two runs, two hits, one walk and had three strikeouts.
Garrity doubled, singled and had three RBIs. Hutchinson, Ducksworth, Harris, Cary and Williamson each had two singles. Booth had a double with Wax and Jones adding singles.
Connor Spencer went the final 1.1 innings and got the loss, falling to 2-3. He gave up two runs (one earned), three hits, walked one and struck out one. Starter Colton Presley went 5.2 innings, allowed four runs, nine hits, walked one and struck out two. John Luke Marlin pitched 1.0 inning, allowed three runs, three hits, walked none and struck out one.
Lester homered, singled twice and drove in three runs for Northwest. Townsend homered, Lee and Landon Rogers each doubled and Cameron Lancaster, Cramer and Griffin added singles.
Northwest ends the year at 26-24.
