River splits with Holmes

POPLARVILLE Pearl River Wildcats split with Holmes here Friday, taking a 3-2 victory in the first game of the MACJC non-division doubleheader before falling 10-3 in the nightcap. PRCC is now 5-2 overall, while HCC is 8-2. In the first game, both teams scored two runs each in the third and that stalemate remained intact until the bottom of the seventh when Matthew Magee of Petal High crushed a one-out triple to the center field wall and scored the game-ending run off a sacrifice by B.J. Smith of Sumrall High. Jared Bond of Denham Springs (La.) High picked up the win in his seventh-inning relief duty, giving up one hit while striking out three. Taylor Byrd of Petal High started and hurled six inning, giving up five hits, striking out four, walking three, and hitting a batter. Caleb Kellum got the loss after relieving in the sixth. He pitched one-and-two-thirds innings, giving up a hit and walking a batter; while Patrick Stewart started and went four frames, giving up three hits, striking out seven, and walking three. David Lee pitched the fifth, striking out a batter and walking two. Brandon Villarreal led the Bulldogs six-hit effort with a pair of singles, while Will Henry smached a two-run homer, and Jayson Keel, Zach Pickett, and Reggie OBriant all had singles. PRCC finished with four hits with Matthew Magee of Petal High hitting a triple, while Chase Lewallen of Sumrall High doubled. James Abraham, a Southeastern Louisiana transfer who prepped at St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, and Grae Ormon of Clinton High both singled. The Bulldogs committed two errors, while the Wildcats played mistake-free defensively. In the second game, things were scoreless for the first three frames, while both squads scored solo runs in the next two innings to make it 2-2 after five. Holmes scored five in the sixth and three in the seventh, while Pearl River added the games last run in the bottom of the final inning. Starter Brandon Byars got the win in his six-and-one-thirds innings on the mound, giving up eight hits, striking out three, and walking two; while Channing Sanders relieved in the seventh, hitting one batter. Starter Blake Juneau (1-1) of Marksville (La.) High got the loss in his five-and-two-thirds innings on the mound, giving up seven hits, striking out seven, and walking one; Beau Underwood out of St. Patrick High in Biloxi relieved in the sixth, giving up two hits; Bond relieved in the sixth, Hunter Curtis of Petal High relieved in the seventh, walking three and hitting a batter; and Carlos Rios of Oak Grove High also relieved in the seventh, giving up a hit, and striking out one. Trennis Grant, Tyji Hawkins (four RBIs), and Villarreal all had two singles a piece; while Henry doubled, and Josh Crowder (one RBI), OBriant, and Pickett (two RBIs) all had base hits. Jordan Williams out of Christian County High in Hopkinsville, Ky., paced the Wildcats eight-hit attack with two singles (two RBIs); while B.J. Smith had a solo homer, and Abraham, Casey Comfort of Oak Grove High, Aaron Lee of Pearl River Central High, Magee, and Chase Toussaint of Poplarvillel High all had singles. Pearl River committed three errors in the game, while Holmes played mistake-free. The Wildcats return to action Saturday when they host Baton Rouge (La.) in a 1 p.m. doubleheader before traveling to MACJC non-division foe Mississippi Delta in Moorhead Tuesday for a 1 p.m. twin bill.