DECATUR – Jones outslugged Northwest 18-11 in a wild afternoon opener and used strong pitching in the nightcap against East Central to win 6-3 and sweep a pair of games at the Clark-Gay Complex Tuesday.

The Bobcats improved to 5-4 and will return home Friday to host Baton Rouge and Illinois Central at noon and 6 p.m.

Jones 18, Northwest 11

Beau Bryans and Luke Lycette each homered and Marquette Gibson was 3-for-3 as Jones pounded out 18 runs on 15 hits to outslug the Rangers.

Jones broke open a scoreless game in the third with a six spot.

Lycette homered, Bryans hit a three-run homer and both Gibson and Evan Rogers picked up RBIs.

Leading 7-0 going to the bottom of the fourth, Jones gave up five in the inning to quickly pull it within a two-run ballgame.

Three walks, an error and hit-by-pitch aided the five-run frame.

An 11-run top of the fifth saw 15 Bobcats come to the plate. Highlighting the big inning was Chase Honeycutt's two-run single, Bryans' two-run double and Rogers' two-run single.

Northwest scratched across three in the fifth and sixth innings but wouldn't get any closer.

Bobcat pitching allowed 11 runs, with just one of them earned. Colby Tubre (1-1) got the win in two relief innings, allowing no earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts.

Jones 6, East Central 3

Four Bobcat pitchers combined for seven strikeouts and three runs allowed over nine innings and Gatlin Sanders was 3-for-5 with two RBIs to help Jones close out a two-game sweep.

Trailing 1-0 in the third, Sanders' two-run double put the Bobcats ahead for good. Honeycutt and Rogers each followed with RBIs in the fourth to make it 4-1 Jones.

A sac fly and wild pitch got EC back within 4-3 in the fifth.

Jones was able to score single runs in the seventh and eighth to hang on.

Dalton Tanner scattered three hits, three runs and three strikeouts over four innings in a no-decision. Brice Deaton (1-1) went 3.1 and allowed one hit for the win, while Luke Lycette got the save.