MOORHEAD – Playing at Jimmy Bellipanni Field for a second straight season, No. 8 Jones grabbed 6-3 and 19-3 wins on Friday over Mississippi Delta to move into sole possession of second place in the conference standings.

Jones improved to 33-10 overall, 19-5 MACCC and dropped MDCC to 6-29, 3-19 MACCC.

The Bobcats close out the regular season with games at No. 2 Pearl River on April 23 and at home April 29 against No. 3 East Central. 

Jones 6, Miss. Delta 3

Chase Russell logged a quality start in seven solid innings and Caden Freeman registered his NJCAA-leading ninth save in a game one win.

Trailing 3-1 after one, a sac fly from Cole Manuel in the third and infield error in the fourth tied the game at 3-3 for Jones.

Two more Trojan errors in the sixth plated the go-ahead runs to make it 5-3 Bobcats.

Dominick Regira's bases-loaded hit-by-pitch plated the game's final run in the seventh.

Evan Rogers led an 11-hit attack by going 4-for-5.

Russell improved to 5-1 on the hill, allowing eight hits and one earned run, and Freeman tossed a scoreless ninth.

Jones 19, Miss. Delta 3 (5 inn.)

An 11-run fourth inning blew open an 8-3 game and helped the Cats run-rule in five.

Talan Theriot set the tone at the top of the lineup with a 3-for-4 game with a double and three RBIs. TJ Dunsford, Braden Smith and Russell all added multiple hits.

Rogers' bases-loaded walk in the first got the scoring started and Smith drew a bases-loaded walk before Brice Ainsworth's sac fly made it 3-0.

Jones added two in the second and three in the third to extend the lead to 8-1.

Russell's leadoff single in the fourth got the huge inning started and he'd later homer in the inning. Theriot had a double in the frame and Bryson Jones a three-run triple. 

Colton Smith worked four innings for the win, allowing two hits and an unearned run. Brady Smith got in an inning of work to close the game in the fifth.

*stats unavailable for MDCC at time of story