full throttle

Pearl River Community College still needs one more win to advance to the NJCAA Division II World Series, but there doesn’t appear to be any stopping this train. The Wildcats, ranked No. 2 in the nation, barreled through No. 5 East Central CC 22-1 on Thursday in Poplarville, scoring 17 runs in the third inning of the five-inning contest. “The focus we have right now is special,” coach Michael Avalon said in a school release. PRCC is 49-7 and has won 15 of its last 16. The Wildcats are 4-0 in this postseason, having outscored their opponents 53-6. Jaxon Milam drove in six runs Thursday. Chap Cook hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the 17-run inning, and Nico Williams also went yard in that frame. Ace K.K. Clark (10-2) called it a day after three. Game 2 of the best-of-3 Region 23 title series is tonight at Dub Herring Park. “We have to show up and be ready to play. East Central is going to bounce back,” Avalon said. The winner of the series gets the automatic berth in the juco World Series at Enid, Okla. East Central (41-13) made that trip the last two seasons. PRCC last went in 2022, when the Wildcats won the national title. P.S. Eight was a magic number on Thursday night for the state’s Big 4 NCAA Division I schools. Mississippi State hit eight homers — a school record — in a 25-7 rout of hapless Missouri at Columbia, Mo. Hunter Elliott struck out eight batters for his eighth win as Ole Miss upset Auburn 9-2 in Oxford. In another matchup of nationally ranked teams, Joey Urban’s eighth-inning homer provided the winning run for Southern Miss in a 4-3 victory at Troy (Ala.). And Jordan McCladdie’s two-run knock in the eighth inning propelled Jackson State to an 8-7 win over visiting Southern University. Worth noting: Three MSU players hit two homers each Thursday, including Hunter Hines, who tied Rafael Palmeiro’s career homer mark with 67. Hines, a senior out of Madison Central High, now has 13 homers on the year. … In the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament at Tampa, Fla., Mississippi College rolled to a 13-9 win over Lynn as Bryce LaRocca and Tyler Jacobsen drove in three runs each. In the other side of that regional, at Lakeland, Fla., slumping Delta State stumbled to a 7-3 loss against West Florida. Gulf South Conference pitcher of the year Drake Fontenot gave up four runs in 3 2/3 innings to take the loss, DSU’s sixth in a row. The Statesmen face elimination today. MC moves into a winners bracket game vs. No. 1-ranked Tampa.