eye on …

If Jones County Junior College is feeling any burden from being ranked No. 2 in the nation, it did not show in the Bobcats’ season-opening doubleheader on Saturday. Jones, the only Mississippi school in the NJCAA Division II preseason Top 20, beat Mississippi Delta 6-4 and 8-0 in Ellisville. Jones went 46-17 in 2011, won the Region 23 championship and made a serious run at the national title. This is definitely a team to watch in 2012. Zac Fowler and Zane Walley — the Killer Z’s? — homered in the Bobcats’ first game and Cody Minter had two hits and two RBIs to back a five-man combo two-hitter in Game 2. The player in the spotlight at JCJC might be 6-foot-4 Vito Perna, who went 11-1 with a 2.20 ERA as a starting pitcher and batted .344 with seven homers and 56 RBIs as a DH. He got the win in this year’s opener. Also returning from a dominant 2011 pitching staff is Logan Riddell, who posted a 10-4 mark.
P.S. Hinds CC is scheduled to open its season today at East Mississippi. The Eagles return 11 lettermen from a 23-18 club. The stalwarts include 2011 MVP Tyler Akins, a Belhaven signee who went 6-4, 3.57 and batted .333 with five homers; lefty Alex Gunn (7-1, 2.62); Mississippi State signee Pierson Waring (.363); and fellow infielder Daniel Gilbert (.380), who is Belhaven-bound.