Pearl River Community College won the NJCAA Division II baseball championship Saturday when left fielder Ethan Gardner delivered a walk-off RBI single that scored Jackson Estes in the bottom of the 11th to beat South Mountain 4-3, the college said.
The victory gave Pearl River its second baseball title in four years and completed a sweep of junior college championships for the Poplarville school after the Wildcats secured their first softball crown five days earlier, the college said.
Pearl River fell behind early when South Mountain opened a 2-0 lead on a pair of RBI singles in the second inning. Estes hit a solo home run in the fifth, and a passed ball in the sixth allowed Jackson Bedoe to score and tie the game 2-2. Pearl River took its first lead with a run in the eighth, but a bases-loaded walk in the ninth forced extra innings, the college said.
Collin Jenkins (7-0) was credited with the win after holding South Mountain scoreless in the 11th. Reliever Landon Watts, who replaced Drew Harrison in the fifth, struck out nine and allowed one run on three hits over six innings. Estes finished with two hits and a home run, and Bedoe also had two hits, the college said.
Pearl River coach Michael Avalon praised his players after the game, saying, “My mother-in-law sent me something about David and Goliath this morning. God gave him five stones, and he only used one. We had 35 stones we could have used, and we only used 15 or 16 of them, but we were strong because of every young man on this team. They believed in the stone we were throwing at the time.” The Wildcats finished the season 50-11, the college said.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
