POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The No. 2 Pearl River baseball team survived a late No. 19 Gulf Coast State surge on Saturday at Dub Herring Park, shutting the door to secure an 8-7 victory and a series victory.
"We battled all weekend and they're (Gulf Coast State) really, really good," PRCC head coach Michael Avalon said. "They're as physical of an offense as we've seen. The bottom line is we won the series, and that was the goal coming into the weekend. Any time you take two out of three against a team like that, it's a really good weekend."
Preston McAdory (Lucedale; George County) set the tone from the jump, opening the game with back-to-back 96 mph fastballs before striking out the leadoff hitter. The freshman punched out three in the inning, working around a two-out walk, and finished his second start of the season with six strikeouts over three innings.
PRCC's offense matched that early intensity. Ethan Garner (Gulfport) doubled to open the bottom of the first and moved to third on a single from Jackson Hood (Madison; Germantown). Chap Cook (Canton; Canton Academy) drove in the first run with a sharp single to right, and Jackson Estes (Madison; Germantown) followed with an infield hit to plate another for a 2-0 lead.
The Commodores trimmed the deficit to one in the second with a triple and a double, but McAdory responded by stranding a leadoff walk in the third.
Kyler King (Picayune) answered immediately in the bottom half, ripping a double down the left-field line to score Cook, who had walked to lead off the inning, extending PRCC's lead to 3-1.
Tanner Busby (Picayune) took over on the mound in the fourth and escaped the frame with help from Garner, who delivered a strike from the outfield to cut down a runner at the plate. The Wildcats capitalized in the bottom half, loading the bases before Coy Clements (Hattiesburg; Oak Grove) worked a four-pitch walk to force in a run. King added another with a sacrifice fly, pushing the lead to 5-1.
Gulf Coast State scratched across a run in the fifth, but PRCC responded again. Jackson Beddoe (Sulphur, La.) doubled to start the inning, moved up on a wild pitch and scored when Garner singled up the middle against a drawn-in infield.
Busby erased a one-out error in the sixth by inducing a double play, and PRCC kept adding on at the plate. Estes doubled and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt before Abel Thetford (Bossier City, La.; Parkway) drove him in with a line-drive single. Gatlin Pitts (Mobile, Ala.; Daphne) capped the scoring with an RBI double down the line, giving the Wildcats an 8-2 cushion.
Dalton Graham (Conehatta; Newton County) allowed a run in the seventh but rebounded with a clean eighth. The ninth inning proved tense, as the Commodores rallied all the way back to within one at 8-7. Colin Jenkins (Mt. Olive; Simpson Academy) settled in and recorded the final two outs to seal the victory — and the series.
BY THE NUMBERS
Garner was 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot, scoring two runs, driving in one and walking once. Estes went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Pitts also finished 2-for-4 in the contest. Cook walked twice.
McAdory finished his second start of the year with three innings pitched one run allowed on two hits and two walks. He struck out six batters. Busby earned the win, throwing three innings and allowing one run while scattering six hits. He tallied two strikeouts. Graham allowed three runs on four hits in 2 1/3 innings — punching out two. Jenkins recorded the final two outs of the afternoon, allowing two runs on three hits.
NEXT UP
Pearl River heads to Meridian Tuesday for a 2/5 p.m. doubleheader against Northwest and the host Eagles. The games will be livestreamed at MCCEagles.live.
The games will also be available over the air in Pearl River County by tuning into 1320-AM and 106.9 FM. The radio broadcast is also available at WRJWRadio.com and by downloading the WRJW app.
For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on X (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).