POPLARVILLE – No. 13 Jones College is headed to the Poplarville Regional championship game after knocking off top-ranked Pearl River, 2-1, Wednesday afternoon at Dub Herring Park.
The Bobcats (37-16) scratched across the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth and then watched Trevor Hodges slam the door in the bottom half to secure one of the biggest wins of the season.
Jones advances to Thursday's regional final, while the Wildcats (45-10) were pushed into an elimination game.
Jones gets the 2 p.m. winner of Pearl River/Copiah-Lincoln in the bracket final at 6 o'clock and would have to be beaten twice.
In a contest dominated by pitching and defense, neither team scored through the first six innings.
Jones starter Brayson Graham worked around traffic all afternoon, scattering just two hits across six shutout innings while striking out seven and walking five. The freshman escaped multiple jams, including a bases-loaded threat in the second and another two-on situation in the sixth.
Pearl River's Cal Culpepper matched him early, striking out five over five scoreless frames before JP Abt took over in relief.
The Bobcats finally broke through in the seventh. Brayden Quick was hit by a pitch to open the inning and moved into scoring position on Kelan Guidry's sacrifice bunt. After Warren Hutchinson drew a walk, Chase Russell lined a two-out single to center to plate Quick for a 1-0 lead.
The advantage lasted only minutes.
Jackson Estes answered in the bottom of the inning, hammering a solo home run to right field off Hodges to even the score at 1-1.
Jones delivered the decisive blow in the ninth.
Quick opened the inning with a single and gave way to pinch-runner Brady Smith. Guidry again executed a sacrifice bunt to move Smith into scoring position and Eli Wheat followed with an infield single. Hutchinson then dropped a bunt single in front of the plate, allowing Smith to race home with the eventual game-winning run.
After striking out Abel Thetford to begin the ninth, Hodges got Gatlin Pitts on a groundout before Estes lined out to shortstop to end the game and send the Bobcats into celebration.
Hodges earned the win to improve to 9-1, allowing one run over three innings in relief. Graham and Hodges combined to limit the nation's top-ranked Wildcats to four hits while striking out nine.
Offensively, Jones collected eight hits. Talan Theriot and Wheat each had two-hit performances, while Hutchinson and Russell drove in the Bobcats' two runs.
Pearl River stranded 10 runners in the loss, including multiple scoring opportunities against Graham in the early innings.
