ELLISVILLE – Jones capped off its fourth straight sweep on the diamond with a thrilling, 8-5 come-from-behind win over No. 1 Pearl River Wednesday night at Community Bank Park.
Jones defeated Gulf Coast, 7-3, earlier in the day and has won eight straight to improve to 11-4. PRCC fell to 13-3 and Gulf Coast, 6-8.
Jones 7, Gulf Coast 3
Tied 3-3 into the bottom of the fourth, a wild pitch, two sac flies and
Gatlin Sanders home run allowed Jones to score four unanswered for the victory.
Tristan Pearson's RBI-double put Jones on the board in the first and he drew a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the third.
Dalton Tanner went 5.1 strong innings, scattering five hits and one earned run with two strikeouts and three walks.
Colby Tubre tossed 3.2 hitless with five strikeouts to earn the save.
Jones 8, No. 1 Pearl River 5
What was a pitcher's duel through the first four innings quickly turned into a slugfest over the final five innings as Jones outlasted the Wildcats to snap a six-game skid against them.
PRCC led 4-0 in the top of the fifth, highlighted by a two-run home run by Preston Soper.
But Jones slowly started to chip away thanks to the first of five Wildcat errors on the night.
Jakob Wax reached on an error to start the bottom of the fifth and put the wheels in motion for a three-run inning.
Marquette Gibson had an RBI-groundout and Sanders a two-run single up the middle to pull Jones within 4-3.
Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh, a Pearson RBI-single and
Hays Carley pinch-hit, two-out two-run single gave Jones its first lead of the game. Wax followed a batter latter with a single to make it 7-5.
Charlee Strickland threw a scoreless eighth and
Luke Lycette struck out the final three batters in the ninth for the save and come-from-behind win.
Eight different Bobcats had a hit in the nightcap for Jones. The pitching staff held PRCC's 5-through-9 hitters to 1-for-16 at the plate with six strikeouts.
Drew Druckenmiller went five innings in a no-decision, allowing four runs with five walks and five strikeouts. The save for Lycette was his third.
Jones travels to Coastal Alabama-East March 3 and will play two games at Nunez on March 4.
