Every time Hattiesburg punched, Pearl River Central punched back. And vice versa. Such is expected in a bout of baseball heavyweights. But in two of their three, much-anticipated meetings this season, the Tigers have landed the knockout punch. The latest came Tuesday night, as Hattiesburg solidified its claim for a district title with a 9-5 road win.
“They [PRC] are the defending state champions and have got a lot of guys back from last year’s team,” Hattiesburg head coach Joe Hartfield said. “They play hard, so we had to match their intensity of course. We did that tonight.”
Hartfield’s Tigers were aided by a red hot start at the plate, as Caleb Tart drove in two early Hattiesburg runs in the first inning. In the second, the Tigers added two more when Joe Gray reached on an RBI triple and came around to score on a passed ball. Through an inning and a half, Hattiesburg led their division rival, 4-0.
Considering the week prior for the Tigers and their trip to play in the USA Baseball National High School Invitational in North Carolina, Hartfield was more than pleased with the sizzling start.
“I was concerned, because we’re still tired from that trip,” Hartfield said. “That was a long trip with four games in four days, a 12 hour drive up there and a 12 hour drive back.
“But our guys were ready to play tonight.”
In the bottom of the second inning, PRC cut Hattiesburg’s lead to 4-1 off a solo home run from Robert Shoemake. And in the fourth, the Blue Devils made it 4-2 when Austin Dean reached on an RBI double.
Then, Hattiesburg punched back. The Tigers answered with a two-run fifth, as Dexter Jordan and Letrelle Johnson picked up RBIs. After PRC also plated two runs in their half of the inning, Hattiesburg responded three-run sixth.
“Their intensity and focus was there,” Hartfield said. “You could tell they wanted to win.”
Joe Gray, Adrian Felts and Dexter Jordan drove in a run apiece in that sixth inning. Jordan, a Louisiana signee, also got the start on the mound for the Tigers, going five innings with five strikeouts.
“I thought Dexter was the difference maker,” Hartfield said. “I thought he matched up well with their number one guy tonight.”
AJ Stinson came on in relief for Jordan in the bottom of the sixth and faced a few tough situations. One in the sixth, where the Blue Devils got a pair of runners on base with nobody out, and another in the seventh, when they loaded the bases. All told, PRC could only muster one run in that span, as Stinson got the job done, striking out two in his two innings of work.
“They were giving him [Stinson] tough at-bats,” Hartfield said. “Then he kind of lost his release point, but he was able to gather himself enough to get six outs.”
The win moved Hattiesburg to 13-6 overall and first place in Region 7-5A at 5-1. When it comes to clinching the latter, the Tigers control their own destiny.
“We’re definitely in control of it. We’ll need to win two out of the next three to seal it mathematically, I believe,” Hartfield explained. “But we wanna win every game on our schedule. We’ll take it one game at a time. At this point in time, it’s been a tough schedule, and we feel like from this point on, we should be able to win most or all of them.”
Hattiesburg also took the regular season series, 2-1, over PRC with the win. But very few, including Hartfield, believe Tuesday will be the last time the Tigers face the Blue Devils this season.
“It happens every year. It’s been that way the last two years at least [in the playoffs]. We’ve played an awful lot of ball games against one another.”
