MARIANNA, Fla. — The No. 2 Pearl River baseball team started a new streak Friday afternoon, hitting the road and taking down NJCAA DI foe No. 20 Chipola 7-2.
“We did a really good job of responding to adversity. Wednesday was the toughest day we have had in almost two months,” head coach Michael Avalon said. “I didn’t worry a whole lot about this team. They’re a mature team, and they were ready to go. We tried to move on, and they did that today. That was a really good team that we played. We saw good arms and cashed in when we got runners on.”
Pearl River (43-7 overall) wasted no time taking the lead against Chipola (29-16). Bryce Fowler (Madison Germantown) ripped a single into center field and advanced to second on a Jeff Ince (Brandon; Jackson Prep) sacrifice bunt. Five pitches later, Hollis Porter (Hurley; East Central) drove him home with a single, 1-0.
Starting pitcher JT Schnoor (Pascagoula; Resurrection) found himself in a little bit of trouble early on but forced a double play and struck out a batter to keep the Indians off the board in the bottom of the first.
Schnoor was given some insurance runs in the third — once again, thanks to Hollis Porter (Hurley; East Central). The Mississippi State transfer put a charge into a ball and sent it flying over the wall in center field for a two-run homer, 3-0. The blast was his 19th of the year, tying the single-season record held by Tate Parker (2022) and Simon “Meaux” Landry (2018).
PRCC tacked on three runs in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. Jonah Katsaboulas (Brandon) and Creek Robertson (Oxford; Madison Central) picked up back-to-back singles to open the frame. Alex Wade advanced each runner a base with a double into the left field, picking up an RBI in the process. Two sacrifice flies in a row by Parker Ryan (Madison; Jackson Academy) and Fowler plated the next two runs.
The Indians broke the shutout in the bottom half of the inning, scoring on a groundout and a single, 6-2.
The Wildcats turned the ball over to Caleb Dyess (Carriere; Pearl River Central) in the fifth frame, and he kept Chipola off the scoresheet, allowing PRCC to stretch its lead out further in the seventh. A leadoff double by Fowler eventually resulted in a run on Marshall Phillips‘ (Hattiesburg; Sumrall) sacrifice fly, 7-2.
Dyess struck out the side in the eighth before giving way to Konnor Graham (Hammond, La.) in the ninth. The freshman walked the leadoff batter, but Chipola flew out in the next at-bat before grounding into a game-ending double play.
Schnoor threw four innings of two-run, five-hit, four-walk baseball. He struck out four. Dyess threw four no-hit innings, allowing just two walks while striking out four. Graham threw a clean inning, walking just one.
“That was a very talented lineup that we faced,” Avalon said. “They had several lefties, and we threw righties, so we knew it was a tough matchup. We pitched out of some jams.”
Porter led the charge at the plate, going 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a run. Fowler went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Ince was 2-for-3 with a run, and Wade rounded out those with two hits, finishing 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run.
UP NEXT
Pearl River heads to Ellisville on Wednesday for a 3 p.m. rivalry series against Jones College. Tickets can be purchased at JCBobcats.com/Tickets. The game will be livestreamed at JCBobcats.com/Watch. It can be heard at WRJWRadio.com.
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