down to the wire

In juco land, the spotlight is on Pearl River Community College and Northeast Mississippi CC. Pearl River can clinch first place in the MACJC South Division with one win in Saturday’s doubleheader against Southwest in Poplarville. The Wildcats, ranked ninth in NJCAA, are 17-5 in the division after an impressive sweep of Jones County (15-9) on Tuesday. Ryan Deemes and Christian Talley, both 7-game winners, threw shutouts for PRCC. Second-place East Central (15-7) has a shot but needs to sweep Hinds (8-14) and hope PRCC gets swept. Gulf Coast is currently fourth in the South at 10-12. … Meanwhile, Northeast, which is 16-6 in the North, can win the division crown with one win against Mississippi Delta in Booneville on Friday. If Delta (14-8) sweeps, Northwest (17-7) will win the division. Northwest scored walk-off wins in both games of a doubleheader against East Mississippi on Tuesday. Jay King’s homer won Game 1, and Kramer Hollenbach’s RBI double ended Game 2. Itawamba is 11-11 in the North and needs to win one of two against Holmes in Fulton on Friday to claim fourth place and a 14th straight postseason berth. … The top four teams in each division make the playoffs, with the best-of-3 opening-round series starting next week.