Warriors grab South Division''s third seed with 10-2 victory

POPLARVILLE Pearl River Community College will kick off a best-of-three MACJC playoff series against North Division champ and No. 1 seed Holmes in Goodman Friday after falling to East Central 10-2 in a nine-inning playoff game here Monday in Wildcat Stadium. PRCC and ECCC ended their regular seasons knotted at 13-11 in division play and Monday game decided the South Division third and fourth seeds. East Central will travel to North No. 2 Northwest Mississippi in Senatobia for its series, while South No. 1 Jones County will host North No. 4 East Mississippi in Ellisville. South No. 2 Mississippi Gulf Coast will host North No. 3 Itawamba in Perkinston. The top four finishers in the four series will earn berths in May 12-14''s MACJC State Tournament at the home field of the top-seeded South Division finisher. Should all the North Division teams win the playoff series, the top-seeded North finisher will host. The visiting Warriors went up 4-0 in the top of the first inning Monday and never looked back; adding four more runs in the top of the third and two in the fourth. The Wildcats salvaged a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, but ECCC wound up taking the win after seven frames via the eight-run rule. In the first, Jeremy May drew a one-out walk off PRCC starter Michael Peters of East Marion High before Vincent Kortbawi followed with a single down the third-base line. B.J. Martin ensuing base hit to left scored May, then Charles Hill reached on an error scoring Kortbawi. A strikeout later, Tyler Brant belted a two-run single to left center to make it 4-0 before Carlos Leal grounded to first for the final out. Pearl River managed two base runners in the bottom of the frame when Chase Lewallen of Sumrall High reached on an error with one out, the Matthew Magee of Petal High singled; but Warrior starter Pervis Mann struck out B.J. Smith of Sumrall High and James Abraham, a Southeastern Louisiana transfer who prepped at St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, in succession to end the inning. After a scoreless second, East Central padded its lead in the top of the third. Martin led off with a double down the right field line and scored an out later off Fred Hampton single to left. Brant then singled, Leal was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Tanner Noakley base on balls pushed in a sixth run. Darmaal Moore followed with an RBI single to make it 7-0, which prompted the mound exit of Peters for Carlos Rios of Oak Grove High, who immediately gave up a bases-loaded single to May before striking out Kortbawi and retiring Martin with a ground out to first. PRCC answered with its two runs in the bottom of the frame. Jordan Williams, out of Christian County High in Hopkinsville, Ky., got things going with a one-out single through second base and Magee followed an out later with an RBI double to left field. Smith single scored Magee to make it 8-2 before Abraham hit into a force out to end the inning. The Warriors scored the game final runs in the top of the fourth when Hill led off with a single to left field and Hampton walked. The pair moved to second and third off Brant ground out to the pitcher, setting the stage for Noakley two-run double to left a strikeout later. Moore grounded to third for the final out. Pearl River managed four base runners from there on out off two walks, a hit batter, and a two-out single by Aaron Lee of Pearl River Central High in bottom of the seventh. East Central, on the other hand, also managed four base runners off three walks and a two-out single by Kortbawi in the top of the seventh. Mann (6-1) got the win in his two innings on the mound, giving up a hit and striking out two; while Casey Well relieved in the third. He pitched two innings, giving up three hits, striking out one and walking one before Seth Kidd took over in the fifth. He went two innings, striking out one and hitting a batter; while Willard Bacon pitched the seventh, striking out one and walking one. Peters (2-3) got the loss in his two-and-one-thirds innings on the mound, giving up seven hits, striking out one, walking two, and hitting a batter; while Rios gave up four hits, struck out five, and walked four. Martin paced the Warriors 11-hit effort with a double and a single (one RBI), while Brant (two RBIs) and Kortbawi had two singles each. Noakley doubled (three RBIs) and Hampton (one RBI), Hill, May (one RBI), and Moore (one RBI) all singled. PRCC finished with five hits, led by Magee with a double and a single (one RBI); while Lee, Smith (one RBI), and Williams all had base hits. East Central committed two errors in the game to Pearl River one.